


Life After Death?

by DoodleStation



Category: My Hero Academia
Genre: Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Fluff, Kaminari is a huge flirt, Kirishima Eijirou is a Good Friend, Midoriya Izuku & Shinsou Hitoshi Friendship, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Original Character(s), Other, Pining Bakugou Katsuki, Pining Class 1-A basically, Pining Shinsou Hitoshi, Shinsou Hitoshi is Bad at Feelings, Todoroki Shouto is Bad at Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 42,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25503559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoodleStation/pseuds/DoodleStation
Summary: He was used to the bullying and teasing. He should be used to it by now. It had been years since it started, after all.He was felt like he was always hiding.That's because he was. Izuku Midoriya, always hiding from his bullies and hiding everything away from his mother. Hiding everything behind his smiles that seemed so real and hiding the freckles that danced on his face, concealing them with makeup in hopes people wouldn't make fun of him as much.Hiding isn't what heroes do.He knew that but deep down he knew he wasn't even a hero to begin with. Always so quiet and weak.It's not like he could be a hero without a quirk, anyhow.When he was given a chance and a reminder of an option that was still left on the table, well-"Why not take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life."He took that chance."Sounds like a plan."
Relationships: Class 1-A & Midoriya Izuku, Class 1-A/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku & Everyone, dekubowl - Relationship
Comments: 22
Kudos: 289





	1. An Idea

Years of bullying. And for what?

The greenette had begged his mother to switch schools for the past couple of years, but she only said that they would have to wait to move; her job wouldn't allow such an easy transfer. So he had brought up the idea of homeschool over and over again.

"No, mom! You don't even have to do it! I can just get books from the library! I can learn that way...please," he whispered the last part as he looked down, clutching his straps to his yellow book bag tightly. He didn't want to go back there, _anywhere_ but there. Yet, his mother still sent him on his way to school that day.

Maybe it was a good thing he stayed. Or, it might likely be the worst decision of his life, going to school that day.

The greenette sighed as he muttered a small goodbye to his mother, failing, yet again, to convince her to let him do homeschooling. He exit his apartment, his green curls bounced up and down as he walked down the sidewalk. His name? Izuku Midoriya, age eleven, first year at Alderaan Middle School. He was very intelligent for his age, having to skip a grade or two ahead from where he should be. He smiled to himself, thinking of a life in which he went to a different school, or maybe the same school but without the bullying.

He stopped in his tracks as a small frown made its way on his face. "Time for another painfully excruciating day at school," he huffed as he clutched the yellow straps of his book bag. He glanced down at the ground before stepping forward with his red shoes that he loved to wear.

Everything was going smoothly, as it always goes...until Midoriya bumps into _him_. Well right now the greenette didn't bump into _him_ , but it was one of _his_ companions. The greenette looked up as he reached the top of the stairs, meeting a boy's gaze.

They both smirked, but the ash blond was, thankfully, nowhere in sight. "What do we have here? Quirkless Deku back at school again. Didn't we tell you to fuck off?" The guy with the straight brown hair snarled. The other one with the black hair smirked as well, "Why don't you do us all a favor and go back home?" Midoriya was about to respond until he was pushed back down the stairs he had just walked up.

Midoriya passed out.

He woke up in the nurse's office with a throbbing pain in his head. He groaned as he sat up, noticing the bandage wrapped around his head. Every sound he heard caused even more pain. He sat up and glanced around, his eyes hurting from the bright light. He noticed other bandages wrapped around him as well, some on his arms, legs, and one wrapping around his torso for his back. He glanced over and silently slid his legs to where they were hanging off the bed. The nurse noticed he was up so she entered the room.

"Do you feel well enough to go back to class or do you want me to call your mother?" She asked softly as she went to go look over his injuries. This isn't the first time he's been in the nurse's office, but he claims he's just clumsy; though, the nurse figured it might have something to do with bullying and being quirkless.

Midoriya didn't want to worry his mother; she was busy enough with late shifts working at the hospital. So he shook his head no as he murmured, "I'm fine. Just slipped up on the stairs I guess." He stood up, ignoring the intense pain surging through his body. He played it off as usual. He bowed and muttered a quick thank you as he took the nurse's note, heading to class shortly afterwards.

He entered the classroom, all eyes on him as he handed the teacher the note and scurried towards the back to his seat. He gripped his yellow backpack as well, he had grabbed it before he left the nurse's office. He would be lying if he didn't say he was nervous, feeling everyone's gaze on him as he headed to his seat.

No one would openly admit it, but the greenette was actually quite attractive; that is, if he straightened up more. Whenever he had walked around the school, he would always slouch over as he walked, trying to make himself smaller. Not to mention that he would be far cuter if only he had removed the makeup on his face; Midoriya started wearing makeup to cover his freckles, he thought they just made him look bad. Some of Bakugo's minions had even teased him about it; the young boys, at the time, didn't know how to handle the greenette's level of cuteness, so they tried to insult him about whatever they could.

Said boy sat down, getting his materials and hero notebook out of his backpack, not daring to spare a glance anywhere else.

He felt the harsh gaze of one person in particular. Hesitantly, his emerald eyes flickered up to meet the crimson red eyes of the ash blond Midoriya had known since preschool. His name? Katsuki Bakugo. Or, as Midoriya referred to him as, Kacchan. The green haired teen's eyebrows furrowed before his eyes trailed back to his notes for class, catching Bakugo by surprise.

Midoriya listened to the teacher babbling on about future careers and such; his head snapped up when he heard his name followed by laughter. He grumbled as he set his pencil down, folding his arms and burying his head in his arms since he knew that no one would listen to him. Why were they discussing this kind of stuff now? Future careers? They were only in their first year of middle school...

There was an explosion that sent him back, making the already horrible pain in his head even worse. "You really think you can get into UA without a quirk, Deku? Hell! You'll probably die in the entrance exams!" Bakugo exclaimed, his palms lighting up with small explosions due to his quirk.

Thankfully for Midoriya, the bell for lunch rang shortly afterwards. He was shoved out of the way as 'more important people' wanted to get good seats at lunch. He was confronted by a girl who had always bothered him to buy him a lunch. Midoriya was always basically forced to; he didn't have a quirk to defend himself with, and the girl had a quirk that wasn't meant to be messed with: induced paralysis. The last time he had decided to mess with her, the girl and her friends beat him, and he couldn't do anything since he was frozen still.

Midoriya dropped a tray down at her table and made his way to his spot in the lunchroom. He felt something get shoved against his back, and, before he knew it, there was food on the back of his uniform. "What the hell is that? Poor people food? Go get me something better," she ordered.

Midoriya turned around as he snapped back, "Oh yeah? If you're so rich then buy your own damn food!" His hands tightened around his tray as he faced her.

He noticed her glare and quickly realized what he had done. He shrunk in on himself before booking it to the boy's bathroom, lunch tray still at hand. He shut the stall and crouched on top of the toilet seat, mentally going over how things could be worse. At least he wasn't being beaten to a pulp; he didn't need that because his headache seemed to get worse due to all of the running he just did. As he ate, he went over different ways he could convince his mom to switch schools or even do homeschool.

He couldn't do this anymore.

After he was done with his lunch, he spent the rest of the time peeling the food off of the back of his uniform. He took the jacket off and went to the sink to wash it off with soap and water; it wasn't required to wear the outer part of his gakuran at all times, as long as he had the white long sleeve underneath, he should be fine. Midoriya hurried up after hearing the five minute bell.

His legs moved on their own, the way from the boy's bathroom to his classroom was a route he was very familiar with since he had gone there frequently. He pushed the door open with his red shoes hitting the ground as he made his way to his assigned seat. Oh how he _despised_ this school.

It was obvious that he was being bullied, yet the teachers and staff did nothing to help; they didn't intervene even once. Was it just his school or were other schools like this as well? How cruel...

Why should the quirkless be treated as inferior? Just because they were born without something that others were gifted? Don't they know that, not long ago, people didn't even have quirks to begin with? So what makes people with quirks so special? Midoriya would voice out his concerns if he was able to, but what could he do? He's quirkless, after all...

* * *

After a couple more hours of hell, school was finally over. Though, Midoriya was too caught up in his hero notes, looking up recent fights that had happened while he was in school. He was currently noting information about a new hero that had debuted. He scribbled down the information, muttering his thoughts and ideas as his hand moved across the page fairly quickly.

If you would've looked at the scene, you would be baffled; the boy seemed to be thinking a mile a minute as he jotted down the newfound information. Sure, he didn't have a quirk, but studying them and analyzing them was like a hobby for him. It was one of the only things that actually made him happy.

Drawing was also an exception. He loved the way that the pencil glided along the white page, making something entirely new. It was also satisfying to see his improvement, and how much his art progressed over the years. To create something with his own hands; of course, he never showed his mother. It's not that she didn't like her, no, he loved her to death. But, he felt just fine keeping his sketchbook to himself, it was like a visual diary that he kept with him at all times, even if he didn't use it.

He snapped out of his thoughts as the door was forced open, revealing three people that Midoriya was _very_ familiar with. The teen quickly put his phone away, not wanting it damaged if the ash blond and his lackeys were to do something, which, they were most likely going to do.

Before he could comprehend anything, Midoriya was being held by his shirt collar, emerald eyes meeting crimson red ones. "Don't even think of applying to UA, or else," Bakugo snarled before letting go, turning his attention to the notes scattered around the greenette's desk. He smirked as he picked the notebook, sifting through it before closing it harshly.

The ash blond created a small explosion, damaging the notebook that the greenette had worked so hard to make; he had worked on and completed many over the years. They contained information not only on heroes but villains as well. When it came to analyzing quirks, well, Midoriya was bound to find out the strengths and weaknesses in a matter of minutes with his high level of intelligence.

But now, it was basically ruined. Blown to smithereens in a matter of seconds. It was tossed out of the window like a useless piece of trash. The curly haired teen had reached out for it, but he was held by the shoulder and pulled back by one of the ash blond's companions and shoved back into the desk.

The greenette looked up, tears welling in his eyes as his green curls bounced with the sudden movement as the ash blond snarled, "Why not take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life?" The others laughed it off, thinking of it as a little tease. Their blood ran cold at the greenette's response.

"Sounds like a plan."


	2. Executing the Plan

Using the stunned silence to his advantage, Midoriya snatched up his yellow book bag and shoved past the three, tears welling up in his large eyes. He didn't turn back when he continued, "Don't expect me to be at school tomorrow." With that, he left.

That day, Bakugo had went to follow the greenette when he split away from his 'companions'. He checked the roof. Nothing. He went back to outside the window, where he had thrown the notebook carelessly out of the window. He found the notebook being ruined as the water made the words fade and the koi fish attempted to eat the notebook.

The blond angrily shooed them away, carefully picking up the damaged notebook as he dried it off. _Stupid nerd and his dramatic ass. He's probably going to pretend to be sick tomorrow just so he can scare people._ Bakugo concluded that he would just give the notebook back tomorrow.

He made his way home, still holding the notebook in his grasp since it would 'get his schoolbooks wet', when, in reality, he didn't want Midoriya's notebook being damaged further than it already was. He tried his best to dry it off, but the letters were still distorted. Even if you tried, you couldn't make anything out; maybe you would be able to if it was retrieved from the pond earlier....

He walked around town, not really wanting to deal with his mom's nagging when he did arrive home. He didn't have much to do; it's not like he had any real friends anyways. He would stay out till sundown since: 1. He would've grounded if he wasn't and 2. He needed time to get his homework done; dumbasses didn't get into UA.

Bakugo walked around for a bit, getting angry when someone bumped into him, a boy with long black spiky hair, sharp teeth, and ruby red eyes. He also had a small scar above his right eye if you looked close enough. "Watch where you're going, idiot," he growled under his breath. The ravenette didn't do much other than nodding quickly and scurrying away. When Bakugo was walking home, he noticed a dark figure standing on top of a building; the figure was hard to see since the sun was setting.

 _It's probably nothing. It can't be Deku. He's too much of a wimp to do that. It's probably just a hero on patrol_ , Bakugo thought, trying to reassure himself as he turned away to head home.

Little did he know that the figure proceeded to jump off of the building, falling off at a great speed.

* * *

When he arrived home, he wasn't expecting his mother to be rushing out of the house, struggling to put her jacket on as she rushed to the car. He tried to get her attention, "Where are you going now, old hag?"

He was expecting the usual response, which was yelling and a hit to the head, but he was ignored as his mother rushed to the car. He was met with silence. He began to panic when he noticed her worried state. He tugged at her jacket as his face twisted with worry, "MOM! What's going on?"

She shook her head as she turned towards the car, saying in the softest voice he's ever heard from her, "Go inside, Katsuki. I'll be back." He tried to object but he was turned down when she begged him to go inside.

So inside he went.

He noticed Masaru sitting on the couch, his head in his hands. Bakugo felt a lump in his throat. _No. He couldn't have- That couldn't have been him..._ He decided to ask. He closed the door behind him and looked towards his father as he choked out, "Dad..? Where did mom go?" His father shook his head before sitting up and sighing.

"She's just dealing with adult stuff, don't worry about it," he responded. Bakugo couldn't take it; he stormed upstairs and slammed his room door, chucking his school bag across the room, dropping the notebook in the process.

Bakugo later snooped out of his room when he heard the door shut along with the jingle of the keys. He peered over, as best as he could without being seen, until he glanced at his mother's face while she faced his father. She was _crying_. Not even a tiny bit, no, this was a full on flood of tears pouring out of her eyes before she hugged her husband. Bakugo's eyes widened as he realized it was probably what he was thinking went wrong.

He quickly yet quietly went back to his room, shutting it so it didn't make as much noise. He slid down against his door and buried his head in his knees, "Why am I so _stupid_?" He didn't even care that he was crying; he just wanted to take back what he said. He kept telling himself that maybe it was just something else. It _had_ to be something else. Maybe his mom went somewhere else? She never said anything about going to see Inko or going to the hospital, so maybe it was something else, right?

He went back to school the next day, hoping to see a familiar blob of curly green hair. But it seems that Midoriya kept his promise; he didn't show up to school that day. Nor the next day, week, month, and year.

The teacher just told the class the reasoning for Midoriya's absence was because he moved away. Hell if Bakugo was going to buy that shitty excuse. But perhaps it was because they were so young was the reason the school hadn't told the truth. Maybe it was Inko's doing? Sure, she cared for her son, but she also paid attention to others and cared for how things would impact other people.

So, Bakugo made a promise to himself: If Midoriya couldn't get into UA anymore, then he would do it. For both of them.

The next two years of middle school had passed by in an instant, yet no news on the Midoriya family and their whereabouts. Well, by the Midoriya family, Bakugo meant Inko. He felt terrible; her only son, dead from suicide just because he was quirkless.

Whenever he had the time, Bakugo would look through the notebook he had retrieved from that day and try to decipher some of the smudged and distorted writing. He pulled out old photos of them that he had hidden away under his bed and look at them, studying the boy's freckled face and messy green bedhead of hair. The boy he had fallen in love with it but never realized until it was too late.

He was gone. Just because Bakugo couldn't shut his loud mouth.

* * *

It was finally the day of the UA entrance exams. Bakugo seemed to not care when he passed by the people he had called extras, barely sparing them a glance as he passed by. In reality, his eyes darted around frantically, trying to find any signs of the usual dark green curls he had grown so attached to. But deep down, he knew he wasn't going to see those curls again, nor the cute face he had known for most of his life. He just wanted to apologize, to hold him tightly in his arms and never let go, but...he couldn't.

The ash blond took one more glance around before heading inside, scanning the auditorium for a tuft of green hair, but he didn't see anything remotely close to a forest green. So he focused on the exam instead.

* * *

_Knock knock. **Knock knock.**_

Bakugo groaned as the amber hues poured through his window, indicating the start of a new day. To say the least, he wasn't really a morning person. He pulled himself up, spiky bits of champagne colored hair sticking out in different directions thanks to the his bed. He grumbled as his mind registered his mother's nagging from the other side of the door.

But why this early?

He heard bits and pieces of the words she was saying, not being able to ignore her voice no matter hard he had tried. She was saying something...about first and late? Cherry red eyes trailed down to the phone laying on the dresser, a pale caramel colored hand swiftly grabbing it as the screen seemed to light up. Bakugo's eyes narrowed at the harsh light, squinting the slightest bit as his ruby red orbs readjusted with the sudden change. He focused on the date displayed, hoping to find out why he was so rudely awakened at such an early time.

Oh right...his first day of UA.

There was still nagging at his door, harsh knocks seeming to speed up, causing Katsuki more irritation than he needed right now. "ALL RIGHT YOU OLD HAG, I'M UP!" He yelled at he door, receiving more yelling in response. His father, meanwhile, sighed as he readjust the newspaper in his hands from his spot on the couch downstairs, already accustomed to the constant bickering and harsh tones the two would use when speaking with each other.

Mitsuki stormed down the stairs, ranting on about her son's attitude and such. All Masaru could do was hum in acknowledgement, filtering out the things unnecessary as his eyes continued to gaze over the newspaper, occasionally sipping the coffee besides him.

Katsuki would later flounce down the stairs, with his UA uniform on and a bag carelessly slung over his shoulder. He quickly ate his food, only muttering a small goodbye before leaving the house; he only started saying goodbye to his parents after the Midoriyas had 'moved away'. But now that Bakugo realized it, he never did get to see Inko after his first year of middle school...

He brushed those thoughts away. Right now, his main focus was directed towards becoming a hero. In other words, UA. Guess it's time for his first day at UA.

Or maybe he should have referred to it as _hell_.

Not even five minutes into stepping foot into the classroom was he being scolded by a teen with glasses and navy blue hair. Bakugo kicked back in his seat, trying to block out the ranting that the teen in front of him seemed to be doing. He voiced out his thoughts and opinions with his hands moving around in the air rather quickly as Bakugo grunted in annoyance.

The constant bickering seemed to go on until someone appeared in the doorway, making the other two snap their attention towards the person. They were short and had huge, innocent looking eyes with the addition of a small blush covering their cheeks. They kind of reminded Bakugo of Midoriya in those aspects, but- _she_ was not even close to the greenette.

She had brunette hair and chocolate brown eyes, seemingly darting around the room as she stepped in. Sure, she was fairly pretty, but Bakugo didn't have time for love; besides, his heart belonged to someone else, no matter what.

Fortunately for Bakugo, and the ears of everyone else in the class, Tenya Iida–the boisterous blue haired boy–went to go introduce himself to the girl. This effectively stopped the loud squabbling that was happening over something ridiculous. Though, that just left Bakugo alone, his thoughts swirling in his brain as his blood red eyes trailed to the door; he was secretly hoping that a small boy would bounce in the room, appearing nervous and fidgety but his eyes would still shine with happiness. The pool of green hues that were so captivating, having a wide range of greens from jade to emerald, from forest green like his hair to a nice sea green. All at the same time, there would be a shy, hesitant smile playing on his face; his dozens of freckles–that Bakugo would hope would be uncovered, he hated the fact that Midoriya would hide them–would shift on his face as he quietly muttered to himself about the best place to sit, only to find the only spot open was behind the loud ash blond he had known all his life.

Though, Bakugo never found his daydream become a reality.

The seat behind him was still left empty.


	3. He Might Explode...Literally

The same thing kept happening to Bakugo throughout the day.

Whenever he would enter a new room or stroll down the hallways, his eyes always flickered from person to person. It was like he was waiting for _something_. Though, he didn't fully understand what he was waiting for, nor looking out for as a matter of fact.

Or maybe he did know.

He always scanned every new room he had entered, looking, _expecting_ the greenette to be there, a smile plastered on his face. Like all of his first year of middle school was just a dream, that everything would turn out fine in the end. That he would turn a corner to see the adorable freckled boy he desperately wanted to see again, not just in pictures. There was still a small sliver of hope that he clung onto; they lived in a superpowered society, so surely someone was able to get to him before he plunged to his death? Surely someone would have been able to heal him at the hospital? There was surely a quirk that could help him, right? Surely there would be someone, a _hero_ -

What was he doing?

Thinking he would be able to achieve the spot of number one hero, knowing damn well that he didn't deserve it. That spot would've belonged to the one and only Izuku Midoriya; the boy was quirkless, but he had so _much_ potential. But Bakugo had to ruin it, didn't he?

The ash blond sat at lunch, poking at his food while his other hand grazed over the notebook he had tried so hard to fix. Yet, it was still damaged as much as it was on that day; a subtle reminder of the things Bakugo had lost that day. At least, that's what he was lead on to believe; he was convinced that he had lost something, but he never really did.

———— **2 Years Prior** ————

Inko never really viewed herself as a bad person.

She supposed that the bad things happened to even good people though. Maybe it was because of something she did in a past life to receive so much bad luck?

But here she was, sitting in her apartment with the only sound being the food cooking on the stove. This is how it's been for the past year or so; Izuku would've been in his second year of middle school at this point. She glanced over at her mail and sifted through it, picking up one envelope that didn't surprise her as much as the first time she had received one similar to it.

It was a hospital bill.

Her petite hand went over the backside of the white envelope before finally opening it. She sighed as she set the paper down, burying her head in her hands. Her forest green eyes flickered over to a picture, one of her adorable son, with his curly forest green hair and wide smile. He looked at the camera happily as he clutched the straps of his yellow book bag. She picked it up, reminiscing the things that they would do together. Even if she had to work constantly, she would still make time for her son, just to see him happy would wash all of her worries away.

She placed the picture down before getting ready to go. Inko pulled her purse over her shoulder before heading out of her apartment, walking to her small car. She started the car, glancing around and thinking of all of the memories she had made in this city; the city that her Izuku grew up in. She received a phone call before she had started driving, answering it as she sat in the car, not daring to use her phone and drive. What she didn't realize was how much the phone call would change her life and make it whole again.

—————— **Back to the Present** ——————

"Kacchan," a familiar voice said softly, yet you could hear the fear and cautiousness in the voice.

Bakugo whipped his head back, his heart racing fast as he heard the voice he had been longing to hear. He scanned the lunchroom again, but somehow he was able to hear the voice even with the loud noise. Was...was he hallucinating now? It was a possibility; he had been thinking about the greenette more than ever. Maybe he would see if he could get into contact with Inko, or as he referred to her, Auntie Inko.

He shifted his gaze back to his food; he glared at a group of people in his class that had laughed as they chatted happily with one another. Why couldn't he make friends like that? Why couldn't things be that way with him and Midoriya? He would honestly kill to see the greenette with a genuine laugh and smile; something he hasn't seen in a long time. He huffed but someone seemed to notice how lonely the ash blond was, so they went over to greet him.

A hand was stuck out in front of Bakugo's face.

The ash blond furrowed his eyebrows as he looked up to meet crimson red eyes, much like his own. The redhead had a toothy smile as he closed his eyes to greet himself, "I'm Eijiro Kirishima! Mind if I sit with you? You seem to need the company." The energetic boy opened his eyes when he noticed that his hand wasn't being taken. He looked down to see Bakugo glaring up at him; the ash blond scoffed before silently gesturing the redhead to sit with him. Kirishima smiled as he sat down.

Bakugo figures that maybe UA could be a new start for him; he would at least make an attempt to make friends. Though that didn't mean that he would change his personality. He would still have to work out his anger issues. The ash blond let the redhead ramble, giving the occasional grunt in response. It wasn't until Kirishima had asked him a question that he had responded. "I never caught your name..." the redhead pointed out.

"I didn't throw it..." Bakugo mumbled.

The redhead looked at his new classmate in confusion, "What? I didn't hear you."

"Bakugo," he stated briefly.

The redhead nodded and continued to talk until lunch was over, quite the relief for Bakugo; he almost snapped at the redhead for talking to much. He would later vent out his anger during whatever kind of training they were supposed to do, if any training, later. He thought training was unlikely; they already had the quirk assessment test and it was only the first day. He knew that UA was a school that would be rough on the students, but that doesn't mean that they would overwork the students with more training than necessary.

* * *

Well he certainly wasn't expecting this.

"Take these and put them on. They contain the costume designs you had submitted when you registered for the school," Aizawa briefly explained, "Get changed and meet me out on the training field. I'll tell you what to do from there." Only the second day of UA and they were already doing something like this?

This shit was right up Bakugo's alley.

He grinned as he thought of how he would beat these extras in this training session. He glanced over his costume, though he scoffed at the two black dots that went across the chest of his costume. "Stupid bastards putting their own flair on things..." he grumbled before focusing his attention on the introductions of the exercise. He rolled his eyes slightly when that annoying four eyes from the first day had spoken up.

"Sir! With all due respect, I have a question regarding the amount of students in the class currently. With an elite school, wouldn't it be necessary to fill the class to its maximum capacity? There are nineteen students in the class yet twenty seats, why is that?" He did these over exaggerated hand motions as he spoke. And honestly? It was pissing Bakugo off, yet he was intrigued at the question being directed at All Might, who was currently teaching the class.

"Oh- Well- Concerning the student who was originally supposed to be in that spot, they didn't- meet certain qualifications," All Might explained, wanting to avoid the subject completely. He tried to continue but some of the students seemed interested as well.

"What kind of qualifications?" A girl with black hair pressed on. The rest of the class was suspicious. If the person who was meant to be in their class had to be good enough to get into UA, so why weren't they accepted? Maybe they were just overthinking it?

"That's not important right now. For now, let's focus on the training session!" All Might quickly changed the topic as he began to explain the exercise. Though, he received more curious looks when he was given the task of splitting up 19 students...into even groups. Though, he was fairly intrigued with this group; they appeared to be very promising heroes. Maybe, just maybe would he find a successor among them.

Just his luck.

Bakugo glared over at his partner for the exercise. Of course he had to be paired up with the person he despised in the class the most. Well, Shitty Hair was up there as well, but Four Eyes had to be the worst so far. They had started an argument when trying to figure out what their plan should be. Bakugo started yelling about how he would be able to take on Round Face and Half n' Half; he stormed off shortly afterwards until the room became cold, making his quirk less effective. Before he knew it, ice had surrounded his feet, encasing them in the hard and cold substance.

You know what? Bakugo thinks he found someone more annoying than Four Eyes.

He raged when the Half n' Half bastard just strolled up and to their floor like it was nothing. Bakugo became enraged and activated his quirk, making a huge explosion due to his overflowing rage. There was no way in hell that he was going to be defeated that easily. Bakugo had propelled himself forward once he was out of the ice trap, slightly surprising the dual haired teen who thought victory at that point was indisputable.

Obviously he had underestimated how much rage was surging through the ash blond porcupine.

When Uraraka had noticed the long time Todoroki was taking to finish, she had gone up to find him. Not like she hadn't already done so once he had stepped out of eyesight; she wanted to prove herself, not just mope around while someone else did the work for her. She was aiming to be a hero too, was she not? So shouldn't she be given the opportunity to show what she could do? It's not that she enjoyed the spotlight, she just wanted to show her classmates that she wasn't just a weak girl. She was strong and could surely hold her own in a fight.

As it turns out, she didn't get the chance to do any fighting.

She found Todoroki and Bakugo 'fighting'. It was mostly just Todoroki blocking with ice while Bakugo used his explosions to break the ice. Uraraka has noticed that Iida was currently unable to do anything, so she had, unnoticed by Bakugo, floated her way over to secure the bomb. Iida, meanwhile, was attempting to get Bakugo's attention, though the ash blond was blinded by bloodlust.

Oh how Bakugo just wanted to bash the two faced bastard's head into the ground right now.

"HERO TEAM WINS!" All Might's voice boomed throughout the building.

Bakugo looked over to see Uraraka hugging the bomb as Iida had an ashamed look on his face. Though the ash blond couldn't help but wonder.

How much different would things have been if Midoriya was in their class?


	4. “Don’t Leave Me, Dumbass.”

Now Izuku Midoriya was a name that Bakugo had been thinking about constantly, due to the overwhelming guilt at the thought that he made the greenette commit suicide just because of one sentence. Perhaps it was everything piling up over the years; all Midoriya needed was one thing to tip him over the edge.

But maybe it was just that Midoriya was looking for an excuse to kill himself, and, when he had finally gotten one, he took the opportunity.

Katsuki Bakugo was almost entirely convinced that on that spring day back in sixth grade, Izuku Midoriya had committed suicide, no questions asked. Obviously he had been told that Midoriya moved away. A lie.

Or was it?

It was after school and Bakugo walked straight to his house, strange, right? Well, not the straight part, thought that is odd, but the strange thing was him arriving home right after school.

The reason?

He wanted to see if he would be able to ask his mom to contact Inko. Surely she would still have her contact information even after the 'moving away' thing, right? Katsuki decided that he would get some kind of information from this. He walked into the house, though he slammed the door shut as usual, guess it's habit.

"STOP SLAMMING MY FUCKING DOOR UNLESS YOU WANNA GET A JOB AND PAY FOR A NEW ONE YOURSELF!"

Ah. How welcoming.

He chucked his bag aside, caring less about about his stupid school bag at the moment. He went through several rooms before arriving at his destination: the laundry room. There he found Mitsuki folding clothes. She looked up from her work and leaned on the washer, giving her son a slight grin. "So how was school?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes and crossing her arms. He ignored her question in favor of asking his own question.

So here they were, in the car to Auntie Inko's house, somehow.

Least to say, Katsuki was nervous as hell. He only wanted to see how Inko was; he wasn't expecting to actually _visit_ her. He sat in the car and noticed that they had passed an apartment all too familiar to him. He was about to say something but his mother didn't seem to say anything. His eyes trailed to her phone sitting in the cup holder, only to see an address typed in along with a map; the blue line was getting shorter and shorter as they got closer to their destination. So they did move?

"Uhm- What happened to Izuku that they had to move?" Katsuki asked, the word 'Izuku' felt weird coming out of his mouth, but...it was a good kind of weird.

He noticed his mother tense up slightly at the question. "Nothing happened! The Midoriyas just wanted a change in scenery-"

Katsuki interrupted her, "The real reason. They wouldn't move during the middle of the school year."

She hesitated.

"He- He....um-"

"...tried to kill himself? Or was it not an attempt? It was real? WHAT HAPPENED?" He kept pausing in between his questions, trying so desperately to get an answer, _something_ out of her. He stared at the review mirror, just waiting for her to answer his damn questions already. He knew there was a reason for her hesitation. There was a reason she wasn't yelling back.

He watched as she clutched onto the wheel while focusing on the road. She sighed. "It- it was an attempt....DAMN IT! WE SHOULD'VE TOLD YOU SOONER!" She gripped the wheel harder and pulled over before anything could happen. She stopped the car, putting her head in her hands as she whispered, "I'm so sorry, Katsuki. We didn't want to tell you. You were too young. We planned on telling you when you were older or for Izuku to tell you himself."

Katsuki froze.

Millions of thoughts raced through his mind, but he quickly chose one to voice out loud, "Is he there? Can we go see him?"

Mitsuki pulled herself together as she went to turn around, "You- you're not mad..?"

Katsuki didn't want to discuss that at the moment. Of _course_ he was angry, but right now he just wanted to see Izuku. His heart pounded against his ribcage but he noticed they weren't getting anywhere right now; the car was pulled over. "JUST- I wanna go see him," He sputtered out, catching Mitsuki off guard a little. She took a couple of seconds before turning back around and took a deep breath.

"Just don't say anything about it if he is there, okay? I'm not quite sure if he'll be there or not so don't get your hopes up," she warned before starting the car. Though, Katsuki didn't like the thought of that. Right after finding out something that's been eating away at him for the past couple of years just to end up not being able to see the person that's been causing all of this pain, yeah _that_ would be hell.

Well right about now Katsuki was in hell.

They arrived at the new apartment that the Midoriyas had lived in thanks to the address that Inko had sent Mitsuki. Only for Katsuki to find out that Izuku wasn't home; Inko said that he was out. Well at least that gave Katsuki confirmation that Izuku was alive.

So he explored the apartment while the other two were chatting in the room. Though, he couldn't help but step into the room that said 'Izuku' on the door. He observed the pictures in the hallway while Inko explained some things to Mitsuki in the other room.

"So...Katsuki knows?" Inko asked.

Mitsuki nodded, "He actually found out...recently. He wanted to know what happened to Izuku. I guess it was on his mind for a while."

Inko hummed, "It- It was rough to see Izuku in the hospital like that. They said he might be in a coma for a long time or maybe a short while. They never really specified anything. I visited as much as I could with work, but he woke up eventually. It was two years ago when I got the phone call. I was so happy, just to hold him in my arms again. He kept telling me that he was sorry, that he wasn't thinking right. But...the doctors said that there was a side effect..."

She trailed off, but the door had opened and an angelic voice filled the house, "Mom! I'm home!" There was the sound of footsteps until a short green haired boy stepped foot into the living room, his green curls bounced as he walked. "Is it fine if I invite Shinso...over...?" He opened his eyes as he looked into the living room. His eyes widened when he met eyes with Mitsuki. "Oh- hi Auntie Mitsuki," he hesitantly smiled as he waves his hand shyly. She stood up and darted towards the boy, trapping him in a bear hug.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time! How are things at UA? I heard from your mother that they accepted you, right?" Mitsuki asked as she held the boy by the shoulders, inspecting his appearance that didn't change much over the years, except for him getting a little taller and-

"Well...about that...they actually..didn't accept me after all? They said that I was too young since I'm two years younger than the people in the class..." he hesitantly replied.

Mitsuki looked towards Inko to see if that was true, in which she sadly nodded her head yes. "Those motherfu- you know what? I'm going to the school tomorrow to talk to them about that. If they won't listen to me, then I'll just beat the shit out of them," she grinned as she looked at Izuku who started laughing.

Katsuki wanted to go out there, he really did. But now that he actually got to see Izuku after all this time? Well...he was anxious; he didn't want to fuck anything up. He listened to the conversation from the other room. _They didn't let him into UA? What. The. Fuck? Just because he's fucking thirteen or fourteen doesn't mean they should fucking stop him if he's clearly capable. Wait. WAS HE SUPPOSED TO BE IN MY CLASS? I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL THOSE BASTARDS!_ He silently seethed until he heard his name, but it didn't come from his mother's mouth, it was from Inko's.

"Izuku why don't you go say hi to Katsuki? He should be wandering around somewhere," she suggested.

Izuku stilled.

"He's-...he's here? Like right now?" He asked as he looked over to his mother. She nodded and gestured him to go out of the room.

"I'll make dinner afterwards. I'm sure you two want to catch up like Mitsuki and I want to? It's been such a long time," she smiled.

Izuku clutched the straps of his book bag, having stayed at the school later than necessary with the clubs he had joined. "Right..." he breathed out as he turned to walk down the hallway. His eyes flickered back and forth throughout the hallway, before he had picked up his pace and went to his room. _I made it_ , he internally smiled at his accomplishment. Certainly Katsuki wouldn't bother him if he were in his room, right?

Well, no.

But the problem was that the ash blond haired teen was already _in_ Izuku's room by the time that had happened. His crimson eyes looked worried as they traced over the spines of the hero notebooks placed on the bookshelf. His eyes flickered over once the greenette had entered.

They both stilled, unsure of what to do. Izuku, on one hand, never really thought he would bump into the ash blond again. And, even if he did, the greenette could surely run away.

Katsuki, on the other hand, had practically rehearsed this moment in his mind a thousand times, but when it came to executing the plan? Yeah it didn't go so well. Instead of apologizing and talking everything out beforehand, the ash blond moved forwards quickly and surprised Izuku when he had wrapped him up in a tight hug. The taller boy had buried his head into Izuku's shoulder as tears fell from his eyes. They started to soak the greenette's uniform, leaving him perplexed.

The ash blond finally spoke, though it was muffled, "Fuck you. I thought you were gone." At that, Katsuki pulled the greenette closer, clutching the back of Izuku's uniform tightly. The shorter boy tried backing away but that just resulted in a tighter hug, "Don't leave me, dumbass..."

Izuku didn't know what to think, what to do. He was in shock, so he obeyed Katsuki. That is, until he got his thoughts together and pushed the blond away, tumbling to the floor in the process. "I- what's...wrong with you?" He didn't receive a response so he chucked his yellow book bag to the side; he concluded since he couldn't go to UA, he would just wait and attend a normal high school. If UA didn't accept him, then who would?

He stood up and brushed himself off until Katsuki started swearing at himself, "Damn it! Of course I would fuck things up- shit!" He dug his hands in his hair; Izuku definitely wasn't expecting to see this side of his childhood friend.

Izuku thought of different scenarios where he would meet up with Katsuki to talk about their past. He honestly expected something completely different; he expected the ash blond to either brush it off or yell at him. But here he was, breaking down right in front of Izuku.

Even in the scenarios that Izuku planned out in his head, he would always forgive Katsuki in the end. He either blamed it on himself or the fact that they were both in middle school. Izuku would say it was his own fault, he was the one who decided to listen to what an angry middle schooler had said. He would say that he should've put Katsuki's normally aggressive personality into account. But Izuku actually had to thank Katsuki. As it turns out, listening to his advice had worked.

Izuku _did_ get a quirk in his 'next life'.


	5. Oddly Familiar

———— **3 Years Ago; Sixth Grade** ————

_"Why not take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life?"_

Midoriya tried not to think about it, he wouldn't– no, he _shouldn't_ let it bother him. Which is why he walked around after school, trying to get his mind off of what had happened. He went to the store and bought a snack that he liked; he wanted something to munch on. Maybe it would keep his mind off of everything. It should, it has to work.

_"...take a swan dive.."_

Midoriya wondered how his mother was doing. Did she have the day off of work? He would have to find out later when he returned home. He looked up at the sky as he sat down on a bench. He watched the clouds and tried to think of what they looked like, coming up with silly things that they could be. He smiled slightly but winced at the bruise on his cheek, causing him to stop.

_"...off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life."_

At least it was covered though, right? He didn't know what he would do if his mother found out. That was partially the reason he had concealed his freckles. For one, he hated them. Two, the people at school hated them, they even teased him for it. Three, he wasn't able to hide the bruises on his freckled cheeks, so when he had covered them with makeup to hide a bruise one day, he liked his appearance slightly better. But only slightly.

"...swan dive off the roof.."

He looked down from the blue sky and stood up from the bench he was sitting at. Maybe he could try to search for a villain attack? Surely there would be one somewhere? Perhaps that would cheer him up. He brought his yellow book bag out in front of him and shuffled through it, looking for his notebook to write notes in. Oh yeah...it was gone. Practically fish food at this point.

_"...off the roof."_

_**"..the roof."** _

_** "GO." ** _

And that's exactly where he went.

It was getting late once he got there. But that was only because he felt like he should at least leave a note, _something_ for his mother. So he went home, dropped off the note to see that she wasn't home, and went to look for a rooftop. He wasn't even thinking straight at this point; he was just aimlessly wondering around.

Until he found a building with a fire escape. After he fell, he didn't really remember anything. Everything was just dark and it felt cold.

But someone had found him. On the hard concrete with blood splattered everywhere. Off of a thirty something story building, there's no possible way that this kid would survive, right? The ambulance was called and the green haired boy was rushed to the hospital.

——————— **Present** ———————

Midoriya stared at the sidewalk as he made his way to his boring, regular, public high school. It was no hero school, but at least he would be in school while he waited for the opportunity to get into UA.

He focused on his red shoes as they brushed up against the sidewalk naturally, without him even having to think. It was so weird. Just to be breathing one moment and the next you're not; he knew what that was like but it was just so weird that something that came so naturally could just be taken away from you in an instant. And Midoriya just took it all for granted.

His shoes shuffled across the pavement before he found himself in front of his school. He actually started school a week ago as opposed to Bakugo starting UA a mere three days ago.

Midoriya's head was filled with thoughts from yesterday. He supposed it was good that he had things to think about, that way he wouldn't be bored in class or at lunch; people didn't really talk to him much. His mind was practically racing with what happened yesterday.

It was a lot to take in.

First of all, _Bakugo_ of all people apologized to Midoriya after _years_ of bullying, Bakugo practically sobbed right in front of him, and then after Midoriya said he forgave him, the ash blond trapped him in a bear hug. Not to mention there was also dinner afterwards; not much happened at dinner but Bakugo gave Midoriya his number afterwards, telling him to text him the address to his school. The ash blond said he wanted to try and repair their friendship, so maybe they could walk home together. Midoriya agreed, very confused about Bakugo's behavior.

* * *

Midoriya felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to see a girl in his class. He didn't really consider her a friend; she claimed they were friends and Midoriya thought they were for a day or two. Though, he found her and her friend group hanging out without him. It's not that he cared, it was just sad to him. He finally thought he found his first friend in a while–well, except for Bakugo and Shinso– but then she just found different friends, leaving him in the dust. She smiled down at him but all he did was look back down at his food since it was currently lunchtime.

He gave a sad look as he chewed his food, ignoring her. She sat across from him, frowning, "Midoriya, what's wrong?"

The greenette sighed as he swallowed his food. "It's stupid. You can go back to your friends, it's fine..." he murmured. He really didn't want to talk with this girl, especially when she heard her talking behind his back sometimes. She told others that she needed better grades or else she wouldn't get her allowance; Midoriya was upset. The girl shrugged and went on her merry way. Midoriya grit his teeth but focused back on his food.

He heard a crash and his head snapped up with his green curls swishing back and forth before settling on his head again. He listened in on the conversation and heard one remark that struck a nerve, "What are you gonna do, huh? You're just a quirkless loser!" The greenette bolted upright and went over to the group, helping the boy that had been pushed down. He had food all over him from being pushed down with his lunch tray at hand. It really reminded Midoriya of himself. He smiled at the taller boy and asked him if he was alright, but the greenette received a punch in the face shortly afterwards. He held his cheek as he looked towards the bully with hate in his eyes.

Midoriya glanced back at the quirkless blue haired boy he had helped and gave him a reassuring nod before facing the bully, who was also taller than him. "Tell him your sorry," the greenette growled.

"Oh look! The little pipsqueak wants a beating! You know, you could've just asked if you wanted your ass kicked, but right about now, you're pissing me off," the guy said as he cracked his knuckles.

Midoriya gave a sly smirk, "No wonder why no hero school accepted you. All of the schools probably had a 'No Assholes Allowed' policy." The bully was practically seething with anger at this point as he activated his quirk; it wasn't very impressive. It was Koniokinesis but he was only able to produce small clumps of dust. The greenette noticed the small clumps that the guy had already formed; they were like hard rocks.

Midoriya noticed the opening that the bully left and took the opportunity to swipe at his legs, effectively sweeping him off his feet(others too, but indirectly, if you get what I mean).

The guy tumbled to the floor as Midoriya didn't acknowledge him again, turning to the quirkless kid who was getting bullied. "You want me to buy you a new lunch? You can sit with me if you'd like. I'm Izuku Midoriya," The greenette chirped as he guided the blue haired boy to the bathroom to clean off the food on his uniform. The taller boy was still trying to process everything.

"Ah! Um- I'm Tafu Yuichi*! That was really nice of you to do but...you do know I'm quirkless, right?" He asked nervously as he gave a confused look.

(*Tafu meaning 'tough' and Yuichi meaning 'kind one'.)

Midoriya smiled at the taller teen and nodded his head. "Well I don't think you should be treated differently for that. You didn't really do anything either. I just wanted to step in and do something," The greenette glanced at the bathroom door and led the boy in.

After cleaning off the blazer, Midoriya and Yuichi day down in the cafeteria to eat lunch. Surprisingly, no one bothered them, even _avoided_ them sometimes. Though, Yuichi couldn't help but to feel bad. This boy in front of him wanted to be his friend, but wouldn't he get in the way? Being friends with a quirkless person might be the worst decision to make and Yuichi knew that. No one would want to be friends with Midoriya now.

Yuichi's sapphire blue eyes flickered up to look at Midoriya's bruised cheek. The bully must've punched him hard; the bruise was already starting to turn purple and blue. The blue haired boy felt terrible; this boy in front of him- no. This _angel_ had just helped him and now he wanted him to be his friend? A quirkless person being friends with a seemingly powerful quirkful person? And just to take a hit like that for him? Sure, Yuichi was grateful but also concerned. Midoriya noticed his staring and tilted his head.

The blue haired boy was quick to explain his staring. He pointed at his own cheek and then Midoriya's. "Doesn't that hurt? It's kind of...noticeable?" The greenette just waved it off and pulled out concealer. Without even using a mirror, Midoriya was able to cover it up perfectly. Yuichi was quick to notice how the greenette winced at the concealer touching his face.

"It's fine, I used to do this a lot back in middle school. People thought I was quirkless so I got bullied for the same thing..." Midoriya had a distant look in his eyes mixed with a tint of sadness. Though, the greenette still managed to give a small smile, "I never really had anyone to talk to, but luckily for you, I'm here!" It was now Yuichi's turn to smile.

The two boys talked whenever possible, not caring about the rumors of the 'quirkless duo'; they didn't know that Midoriya had a quirk since the greenette didn't like to show it off like most people did. That's one thing that Yuichi admired about the greenette. He wasn't overly cocky because he had a quirk and didn't even discuss the subject of Yuichi being quirkless at any point in their conversation.

They had walked out of school together, talking about whatever was on their mind. Though, Yuichi didn't talk as much as Midoriya; the blue haired boy was a bit of a nervous wreck when it came to talking to anyone. The greenette talked about anything. Yuichi noted that the boy was very intelligent and observant.

They were on their way to the library; they wanted to do a study session due to their teacher saying they had a test later that week. This purple haired boy named Shinso had joined them as well. Midoriya introduced the two to each other; Midoriya explained that he knew Shinso from middle school when he had switched schools. The three had got along for the most part(Midoriya was the only one who actually kept the conversation going). Then, the greenette's phone rang. He picked it up and was met with tons of questions from the other line.

Oh.

He forgot to meet up with Bakugo after school.


	6. “What’s This Bastard Doing Here?”

_Ten_ minutes.

Bakugo was trying. Like, _really_ trying not to be angry but that couldn't be helped at the moment. He took out his phone and checked the address Midoriya had sent him before. He even double checked, maybe more than double checked but the ash blond wasn't willing to admit that.

 _Of course it wouldn't be that easy_ , Bakugo thought as he kicked a rock that was near his foot. The ash blond figured that it would probably take a while to earn Midoriya's trust back, but he didn't expect the greenette to just ditch him. Maybe it was just an after school club thing? Yeah, maybe.

So Bakugo decided to stay longer.

When he realized there was no one else walking out of the gates of the school, he decided he'd been waiting enough and called the greenette himself. Not like Bakugo would admit to it, but he was actually worried about Midoriya. What if the squirt got into trouble or a fight in an alleyway? The ash blond never learned what type of quirk Midoriya had so there was no telling if it was useful in combat situations.

Though, when Bakugo did find out where the greenette was, he found himself yelling on the phone as he flounced towards the library. He could tell that other people were with Midoriya as well but pushed his jealousy away for later. In this situation, he couldn't be jealous; he didn't have that good of a connection with Midoriya, _yet_. So for now, he would let it slide.

As he yelled on the phone, a nervous voice interrupted him, " _Um...Midoriya? Sorry but I have to go._ " Odd. Midoriya didn't mention anything about friends at his school, maybe it was the Shinso guy he mentioned before?

" _Oh. Okay! See you at school tomorrow, Yuichi!_ " Bakugo heard Midoriya chirp on the phone. At this point, the ash blond was very much near where the library was. Though, he received quite a few stares for wearing his UA uniform. He rolled his eyes and 'tched' as he told Midoriya he would be there soon before hanging up.

* * *

Midoriya was kind of sad that Yuichi had to leave so early, but he still had Shinso to chat with! Midoriya always admired Shinso's quirk, though they both made a silent agreement to not talk about quirks that much, specifically their own quirks. In fact, the greenette hadn't really told Shinso what his quirk was exactly. It's not because he wanted to hide it, it's because Shinso never really asked. And besides, the greenette didn't really want to talk about himself; he might end up rambling about himself, or his quirk, which might make him seem self-centered. He didn't want that.

"So how's UA, Shinso?" The greenette smiled at his purple haired friend. Said friend nervously scratched his neck.

"Well I had to go into the general studies department. The entrance exam wasn't really suited for my quirk. But it's alright I guess. There are a lot of arrogant assholes in the heroics department though," Shinso explained, scrunching his face at the thought of the arrogant assholes that aspired to be heroes. Which would be the perfect(worst) time for Bakugo to show up.

The ash blond stepped in, hearing the part about 'arrogant assholes'. He slammed his hand down on the table, startling both boys, Midoriya more than Shinso, and basically growled at Shinso.

"What's this bastard doing here?" The two asked at the same time as they looked to the greenette for answers.

Midoriya looked back and forth between the two, "I'm guessing you two already know each other...?" He looked to one of them for an answer, only to hear Shinso mutter something along the lines of, 'I wish we didn't...' The greenette sweat dropped, "Okay then how about you two start over? Here." He looked at Bakugo and gestured to the purple haired teen, "This is Hitoshi Shinso." The lilac haired boy was left with shivers going down his spine, just hearing the greenette say his given name sent his heart racing.

Midoriya then gestured towards the ash blond, "And this is Katsuki Bakugo." The crimson eyed boy shot a look to the greenette.

"Don't say that again, it's sounds so fucking weird," he stated as the curly haired teen tilted his head. Bakugo didn't think Midoriya calling him by his given name was weird, it just didn't feel right. Besides, not that he would admit it, but he preferred Kacchan. Of course, other people wouldn't be able to use that nickname, just Midoriya.

Shinso looked over at Midoriya. "So how do you know him?" He asked as he scooted closer to the greenette, much to Bakugo's annoyance. The ash blond huffed as he walked around the table, plopping himself right next to the greenette.

"He went to my old middle school, the one I went to before I transferred to your school," Midoriya said as he looked down at his book, flipping through it with a bored expression on his face. The two noticed how his face twisted into a confused expression as he flipped back between two pages. "That's not right..." he mumbled. Bakugo looked over his shoulder to see some really confusing math things.

"I can try and help-" Shinso offered but Midoriya interrupted as he looked between the two.

"No it's just- Isn't this too easy? Yuichi told me that he looked over the material and it was really difficult," Midoriya flipped through his math book. The other boys looked at the sheet again, just as confused as they were before. Bakugo knew Midoriya was smart, but this stuff seemed really difficult. Hell, even Bakugo didn't know where to start on the problem. The boys on either side of Midoriya shook their heads slowly.

The greenette looked between the two, giving them a 'really?' look as he began to point to the problems and explain, "Well these are already given in the problem so you just plug them into the formula for Law of Cosines. After you work out the equation, you're left with the fraction fifty-seven over sixty, which you can easily reduce to nineteen over twenty. After that, you take the inverse cosine of the fraction. Meaning that angle C approximately equals..." he paused as he thought for a second, "18.2°?" The greenette turned to his calculator and typed in a few numbers, smiling when he got the answer he had said aloud. He nodded his head as he looked to the other two, smiling lightly.

"You- Are you sure you're fifteen...?" Shinso had asked questionably. Midoriya's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the lilac haired boy.

"Oh...I didn't tell you?" He dropped the pencil on the paper he had used to work out his math equation. Shinso shook his head no at the question, curious about what the greenette had to say. "I might be in your grade but I'm actually thirteen," he stated. He began to close his math book, "I'll just finish the homework later." He glanced at the ash blond and then the lilac haired boy, "Do you guys want to go anywhere or do you need to study?" The other two shook their heads as they said they didn't need to study. Midoriya packed up his things as he suggested other places to go to; they decided on a cafe, specifically a cat cafe.

Midoriya had a little bounce as he walked in front of the two boys. If the two behind him were being honest, they were mesmerized by the way his curly locks bounced up and down. They couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to run their hands through his hair.

Before they knew it, they were at the cafe; Midoriya made the two sit next to each other since they couldn't decide who should sit next to Midoriya. They ordered their drinks while Bakugo sat next to Shinso, irritated. Though, the purple eyed boy couldn't care less; he was in a _cat cafe_ , otherwise known as heaven. Currently, he was petting a small cat with black fur and blue eyes. Midoriya was trying to make small talk with Bakugo until a loud and cheery voice cut in, "Hey Bakugo!"

The greenette jumped at the sudden voice and scooted towards the window seat of the booth, now sitting directly across from Shinso. His emerald eyes watched as a red haired teen came into view, waving at Bakugo as a shorter blond haired male followed suit. The two didn't have on uniforms; Midoriya guessed they went home before arriving to the cafe. The greenette assumed they were in Bakugo's class. The ash blond wouldn't willingly make friends with random people on the street. The blond boy behind the redhead had peeked his head from behind him, his marigold yellow eyes meeting Midoriya's emerald ones. The greenette noticed the blond had a black streak in his hair as the boy turned and looked at Bakugo.

"Who's this cutie?" He asked Bakugo as he gestured to Midoriya. The greenette looked around until he noticed the blond's golden eyes looking directly back into his.

"W-Wait me? I'm not-" The curly haired teen flushed as he covered his face. He heard a small thump as the redhead lightly hit the short blond on the arm. "Okay okay, how about we start over? I'm Denki Kaminari," the blond introduced as he held out a hand to Midoriya. The greenette slowly uncovered his face as he nodded and took a breath, shaking Kaminari's hand.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya," The greenette shyly smiled. Afterwards, the redhead introduced himself as Eijiro Kirishima. Midoriya had invited them to join, much to Shinso and Bakugo's dismay, in which the two happily accepted. Kirishima slid into the booth next to Midoriya with Kaminari sitting the opposite side of Kirishima. The greenette looked out the window since he had the window seat; his eyes flickered to Shinso, who was still playing with the cat.

Seeing as Bakugo was 'talking' with the other two–Kaminari and Kirishima were actually found the talking–Midoriya decided to strike up a conversation with Shinso. "Do you have your own cat, Shinso?" The curly haired teen had asked, causing the purple haired teen to look up.

Shinso shook his head as he sighed, "No, but I would want one. I can't really have one since my mom is allergic." He looked back down and let the cat, who started purring, making the sleep deprived teen smile to himself. "I love it when they do that," he mentioned to Midoriya as he pet the cat more.

Eventually, they had received their drinks, along with Kirishima and Kaminari ordering their own when the waiter had stopped by the table earlier. Midoriya noticed the coffee that Shinso had ordered and decided to ask, "Shinso have you gotten any sleep?" He looked at his friend, concerned at the eye bags under Shinso's eyes. The purple haired teen had shook his head no hesitantly as he sipped his coffee. "Shinso!" Midoriya scolded as he frowned, gaining the other three boys' attention. "How about you sleep over again? You seemed to sleep fine last time," the greenette suggested. Meanwhile, Bakugo was filled with a tiny bit of jealousy.

Correction, he was _overflowing_ with jealousy.

"What about your mom, Deku?" The ash blond asked, _not_ wanting that purple haired sleep paralysis demon being alone with the greenette.

"Oh! I'm sure she'll be fine with it. It's not like she'll be home anyways so I don't mind the company," Midoriya nervously laughed.

"Why's that? And what about your dad?" Kirishima asked.

Midoriya looked off to the side, a sad smile plastered on his face. "Well my mom has to work at the hospital a lot and my dad...well he left when I was four. He never came back either. No phone calls or texts..." he trailed off at the end as he had his hand in his palm, facing the window, "Sometimes I wonder if it was me or he was just that cold of a person..."


	7. Lost in Thought

"Here's your check," the waiter chirped as he set the paper down. He quickly noticed the others' facial expressions before he bowed and scurried away.

The four at the table turned back to Midoriya, but the boy seemed to be deep in thought. Bakugo called out to him as the greenette snapped out of his thoughts. The ash blond wanted to make the boy feel better and he didn't know if this was going to do the trick or be the total opposite, but Bakugo did it anyways.

He shuffled through his book bag and pulled out a damaged notebook; it was burnt and worn down just like before, but you could tell it was a little bit better. The ash blond handed it over, "I... I fixed it up a little." Midoriya opened it up, though no one else was able to see it. The greenette flipped through the pages, noticing his hand writing wasn't messed with at all; instead, little sticky notes or pieces of paper were there, noting what each word might say and some were rough drawings of the heroes or villains in the book.

"You- you kept it..." Midoriya breathed. He choked out a laugh as tears started to form in his eyes. He wiped them away with his sleeve and gave Bakugo a smile, a genuine smile that wasn't shaky, that wasn't fake. "I- I really think you would even bother to get it. Thanks..." he flipped through the notebook before starting to set it in his book bag.

Kirishima spoke up, "Hey I remember that notebook! Bakugo always brought it to lunch and looked through it. But he wouldn't tell me what it was." Bakugo panicked for a second as he grabbed the check and rushed to pay for it; he didn't want to see what Midoriya's reaction would be.

Midoriya watched as Bakugo got up, but he didn't really mind. He turned to Kirishima. "It's just a notebook that I like to take notes on heroes in. Speaking of which..." he pulled out a notebook marked 'No. 13.2' and opened up to a fresh page. "Can I write down stuff about your quirks?" Kaminari and Kirishima nodded their heads as Midoriya asked a couple of questions. They answered them but Shinso interrupted, "Maybe another time? We're about to leave..." The lilac haired boy didn't really know how fast Midoriya could get it done; the greenette never really asked about they teen's quirk since Shinso seemed to be hesitant to talk about those things.

Bakugo overheard as he walked back over to the table, "Just give him a minute or two." Midoriya asked them about five questions each as he scribbled down in his notebook. The other four watched at the boy muttered his words quickly, some of them being jumbled together by how fast he was talking. It took him a minute or so before half of a page was full; some of the information wasn't even part of the questions Midoriya had asked. Once he was satisfied with half of the page, he flipped the page over so there would be two more blank pages available to him. He did the same thing as he filled half of the page while muttering up a storm.

He stopped as he set the pencil down as he looked at the blond and the redhead next to him, "Can I take pictures of you?" The other two shot him confused glances before the greenette explained, "Oh! Well I want to draw you in the notebook to make sure I can associate the name with the face, you know?" He gave a small smile as he asked. The two allowed the boy to take a photo. Midoriya looked at the pictures and nodded as he put his phone in his pocket and quickly put the notebook in his book bag. After, he pulled out his wallet and left a tip for the waiter. The others left a tip as well before leaving.

"Hey Bakugo you wanna hang out with me and Kirishima? We were just going to meet up with Ashido and Sero from our class, they're really cool and I'm sure you'll like them!" Kaminari tried to encourage the ash blond but he just scoffed and looked away in return. Midoriya nudged Bakugo's side as the other looked down at the greenette.

"Come onnnn, Kacchan! We can hang out another time and I think it would be good for you to have some friends from UA besides Shinso!" Midoriya suggested.

" **We're not friends** ," Bakugo and Shinso corrected. Midoriya laughed as he nodded his head and held his hands up as if saying, 'I surrender'.

Eventually, after much convincing from Kirishima, Kaminari, and Midoriya, Bakugo went to 'hang out' with the others. He claimed he was going home, but the other two just followed him anyways and told him where they were going to meet up. Before the ash blond left, Midoriya did a little hand signal that the two had made up from when they were little. The greenette signaled, 'Message me!' It seemed like Bakugo understood; he briefly nodded before he was pulled forwards by the redhead. All that did was earn Kirishima a bunch of yelling and a punch to the arm since they were in public. Therefore, quirk usage wasn't allowed. Midoriya smiled at their shenanigans before he turned to Shinso and they walked to the greenette's house.

* * *

"Shinsoooo go to sleep," Midoriya complained as he laid on the futon he had set out for himself; the purple haired teen was laying on the greenette's bed. It was dark outside and basically nighttime. Midoriya couldn't really sleep since Shinso's phone light was so bright. It was like having the sun in your room, though Shinso was used to that; he's been Midoriya's friend for a while and the greenette's smile is way brighter than that.

Shinso rolled over on the bed and looked down at the other teen, "Can't sleep, it's too cold." It wasn't actually that cold, it's just that last time he mentioned it was cold, Midoriya offered to share blankets...which meant sharing the futon. The greenette sighed as he rolled over, giving Shinso room to get on the futon.

"You know if you wanted to share the futon, you could've just asked," Midoriya huffed as he pulled the blanket over himself. Shinso jumped up as he realized he had been found out. He was about to ask the greenette how he knew when the teen spoke, "You told me you were cold last time yet you left the blanket on the bed. This blanket is also thinner than that one but you still stopped complaining when I let you sleep on the futon even though you should've been colder." The greenette yawned as he pulled the blanket a bit closer to himself but still leaving a little bit of it for his friend. "Now go to sleep. I don't want to be late again just because you woke up late," he murmured as he trailed off.

Shinso nodded, even though he knew that Midoriya was probably asleep already. He grabbed the blanket off of the bed and hauled it over himself since Midoriya took most of the other blanket. The purple haired teen watched as the dark lump of material moved around before curling up. _He's curling up like a fucking cat. Like excuse me, what the fuck? No one asked you to be adorable, Midoriya_.

Long story short, Shinso didn't get a lot of sleep.

* * *

The greenette yawned as he stretched and looked around. His large emerald orbs landed on the lilac haired teen as he was sprawled across the futon with his phone still at hand. Midoriya frowned at the eye bags underneath his friend's eyes but he brushed that off in favor of getting ready.

He sluggishly moved across the floor as he ruffled his bedhead of hair. He shuffled through his clothes until he found hisBefore entering the bathroom he looked and noticed faint smudges on his blanket. He furrowed his eyebrows and groaned, remembering he forgot to take off his makeup yesterday. He rubbed his cheek as he entered the bathroom, only to find that only about half of his freckles were visible. _Thank god I woke up before Shinso_ , he thought as he leaned closer to the mirror. He shook his head before he turned on the sink, putting his hand underneath the water to feel the temperature.

The greenette placed the clothes he had on the lidded toilet seat before he faced the mirror again and began to wipe off the makeup left. He scanned his face once all of the makeup was off, _Do I really look that bad?_

_**"Oh my god you look so ugly with those stupid freckles on your face."** _

_**"I think you would look slightly less disgusting if you didn't have those on your face."** _

Midoriya's eyes began to water before he quickly wiped his face. _Stop being such a crybaby, Izuku_ , he scolded himself before taking out the small bag underneath his bathroom sink. He was honestly glad his mother never really asked about his freckles; it had been such a long time since he's actually shown them that Inko forgot about them. Well, other than the time that Izuku spent in the hospital.

The greenette put on his uniform before applying the makeup to hide his freckles. He reached over and grabbed his glasses. He didn't really need them, it's just that he thought they made him look a little better. He got them after he got out of the hospital in hopes of getting a 'new look'. Though, his mother ordered him these colored contacts so hopefully he'll be able to wear those. He was always told that his eyes were, " _Too fucking big_." And they were, " _Freakishly large and ugly._ "

He adjusted the glasses and picked up his toothbrush to brush his teeth; he wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment. He pulled out his phone as he had the toothbrush in his other hand. The greenette checked the time as his eyes widened. _WHAT?!_ He slammed his phone down on the counter as he quickly scrubbed his teeth with the toothbrush.

As soon as he was done, he ran out of the bathroom and hurriedly woke Shinso up, "WAKE UP WE'RE GONNA BE LAAAATTTTEEE!" The lilac haired boy groaned and sat up tiredly, only to be hit by a pile of clothes hitting his face. "Hurry up and change in here, I'll get you a bagel or something!" Midoriya exclaimed as he ran out of the door and downstairs.

Shinso let the clothes fall off his face as he looked at the phone. His eyes widened when he realized they were most likely going to be late.

* * *

"FUCK! MIDORIYA SLOW DOWN!" Shinso yelled as the greenette pushed the petals on the bike down in a rhythmic movement.

"Well _maybe_ if you didn't press the snooze button on my alarm, WE WOULDN'T BE HERE!" The greenette shot back as he rode his bike to UA. He figured that he should drop Shinso off first; his friend's school was more important, plus Midoriya's school started a little later.

He skid to a stop as he put the bike near the entrance to the school. Midoriya went to walk Shinso up to the school, but the two were met with a large crowd gathered near the front. The two friends exchanged eye contact before looking at the group of civilians and reporters huddled around UA's entrance. The greenette didn't want his friend to be late so he went in front of the taller boy and started to drag him through the crowd, "Excuse me! Sorry! My friend needs to get to-" The greenette received a harsh elbow to the face before falling back. Luckily Shinso was there to catch him, but the shorter boy didn't move for a bit until he sprung off of the taller boy's chest.

Midoriya noted that parts of his face felt numb before someone grabbed him from the crowd and ushered him away.


	8. This Kid...

Midoriya was too shocked and occupied by the forming bruise on his cheek to even notice the person who had ushered him out of the crowd. That is, until he heard a huge slam and silence. The greenette turned his attention to the taller male hesitantly. His eyes widened as he noticed an all too familiar face examining his own.

Midoriya's inner fanboy almost burst out upon seeing the pro hero Present Mic in front of him. He didn't even realize he was mumbling until a hand touched his shoulder and the greenette looked over to see Shinso giving him a look to let him know he was mumbling.

The greenette slammed his hands over his face, which, wasn't the best idea considering the injury that was already there. He winced and the blond teacher bent down to Midoriya's level, "Hey little listener! I'm sorry for dragging you in here, you probably have school, right? Anyways, I had to help you out of there and help you with that bruise before you go anywhere!" _He's a bit louder than I expected_ , Midoriya thought as he rubbed his ears. Shinso laughed a little and said bye to his friend as he rushed to his class. Well, not before Present Mic scolded him for almost being late for class.

Midoriya and the hero had walked down the hallway, which was surprisingly quiet. " _Is everyone already in class?_ " The greenette accidentally mumbled out loud.

"Yes they are, little listener!" Present Mic accidentally shouted; a door opened in response.

The door opened to reveal a very tired looking man, though he seemed agitated now. "Mic will you shut-" he stopped when he noticed the greenette standing there. The same greenette that was supposed to be in his class. The black haired male blinked owlishly, "Where did you find him?"

The blond was confused. "Outside...?" he answered hesitantly.

The other male in return gave him a glare before turning back to the boy. The black haired male looked over the short teen, trying to remember his name. Meanwhile, Midoriya was overflowing with nervousness under the teacher's gaze. He stopped as he remembered, "Izuku Midoriya, correct?"

The greenette hesitantly nodded his head, eyeing the teacher suspiciously. He seemed so familiar yet Midoriya couldn't quite figure out who it was. He knew it had to be a hero of some sort; this is a hero school after all.

On the other hand, Present Mic's eyes widened upon hearing that name. He remembered that the staff had a meeting about this boy. It was obvious that the boy could be a great hero, he had a good quirk, excellent grades, and did an outstanding job on both parts of the entrance exam. The only problem was his age. The boy was barely thirteen at the time while the others were fifteen going onto sixteen. Some argued that the boy was too young; others had said that he was strong and good enough to be in the hero course, so why should they turn him down? It was quite obvious what the last decision was, but that still didn't change the fact that the boy belonged at UA.

"Mic take over homeroom for a bit. It's not much longer. Besides, you have English to teach next anyways," the teacher sighed as he entered the room only to retrieve his sleeping bag and walk out without a word. The blond nodded as he walked to the classroom of, now confused, students. "I'm going to talk to Nezu," the ravenette briefly explained as the blond walked by. Present Mic gave a thumbs up before closing the classroom door.

The two walked through the hallway with Midoriya nervously trailing behind the tall teacher. "Um..." Midoriya began as the teacher glanced back at him. "..what's your name...?" he squeaked out.

"Shouta Aizawa," he responded as he continued to walk down the hallway holding a yellow sleeping bag. The greenette stiffly nodded while his eyes darted around, examining the hallways closely. Who knew UA would be so big? Well it was obvious that one of the most prestigious schools in Japan would have to be somewhat extravagant, but Midoriya didn't expect _this_ much. He was already told by Shinso of how different UA seemed to be from other schools; all of the teachers there were a pro hero of some sort and the school had huge places for people in the hero course to train in.

Midoriya found himself in a room with a bunch of pro heroes that he recognized. His inner fanboy seemed to escape as he gasped and looked at the others in awe, smiling like an idiot all the while. The teachers lounge is what the greenette assumes the room to be, but why were they here?

A large hand was out on his back, lightly guiding him to another door. The curly haired teen looked up to see Aizawa with a serious look on his face, though it wasn't directed towards Midoriya. Instead, the look was directed towards...a bear-rat?-mouse? Well whatever it was, it had the teacher's full attention, so Midoriya decided to bow as a silent greeting.

"So you were able to fend off those reporters with Present Mic's help?" The white furred creature spoke as a small smile made its way into his face. Aizawa gave him a slight glare, the happy-go-lucky attitude that the principal had just made him want to take a nap to accommodate for the overly energetic creature. The creature pulled a cup out of nowhere as he slid it across the desk, shifting his attention to the greenette. "Tea?" He asked as he took a sip from his own cup of tea.

There was a short silence and Midoriya tensed up, not liking the attention. He shyly shook his head no. The principal just smiled in return, "Oh come on, I insist! It's not like it's poisoned anyways. Relax, I've been waiting to meet you anyways, Izuku Midoriya."

The greenette's head shot up at that. He's been thinking of why he was here. He wasn't in trouble; Present Mic was the one who had taken him from the crowd, and if this Aizawa person was going to do something bad to him, the blond haired hero would've intervened. Based on the creature's appearance, he must be either a staff member, which is unlikely, or, most likely, the principal. There wouldn't be any reason for Aizawa to drag him to the principal's office. If anything, the ideal location would be the nurse's office considering the bruise on his cheek. But this creature doesn't seem to be anywhere close to a nurse; they would surely have a pro hero with a healing quirk to do that...maybe Recovery Girl? Not to mention that this office is obviously not a nurses office given the arrangement of the room. Plus, why would you have to pass by the teachers lounge to get to the nurses office? If that was the case and this was the principal's office, then what business did Midoriya have here?

"The answer is simple, really," the principal, which people called Nezu, spoke happily. Midoriya looked confused. What was this guy's quirk and how did he know what the greenette was thinking? The teen thought for a second again before his face dusted a light pink from embarrassment, realizing he had probably muttered his theory. He slapped his hands over his mouth, further irritating his bruised cheeks. Yes, his face was injured on both sides due to the punch he received yesterday from the bully plus the elbow to the face from today. It just wasn't a good week for the greenette. Nezu swirled his drink in his cup as he smiled cheekily, "You must've wanted him in your class an awful lot if you were willing to go through those beasts of reporters, hm, Aizawa?"

The black haired male growled as his hair rose up and his eyes turned a crimson color. That's when it clicked in Midoriya's mind that this man was the underground hero, Eraserhead. Nezu smiled at the boy's reaction, noting that the teen recognized the hero, surprisingly. "Mic and I handled the reporters earlier when the police showed up. Mic just went back out to make sure the students were able to get in. I'm not sure how he ended up with this kid but I wanted to talk with you about him," Aizawa hissed before noticing the greenette's facial expression.

"You're underground hero, Eraserhead. Quirk: Erasure. You're able to erase other people's quirk if you keep your eye on them while your quirk is activated. Though-" he cut himself off, mumbling a small 'sorry' afterwards.

"You're a clever one, hm?" Nezu hummed. "Though, you are a bit too young to enter the hero course...." he trailed off as he seemed to be thinking about something, "You seemed to be enrolled in another school already. Which school is that, if you don't mind me asking?"

The greenette stood up straighter as he fiddled with the straps of his yellow bookbag. "Well it's Nabu High School. It's a regular public high school...." he spoke as he glanced off to the side.

"Oh? And why did you pick that school? I thought you wanted to be a hero?" Nezu questioned, interested in the boy's decision to go to a non-hero high school. Perhaps the boy went with a 'UA or nothing' type of attitude?

"Ah, well. I originally thought that perhaps all hero schools would have the same age requirement. After some research, they didn't. However, even though my quirk is useable without physical strength, I decided to wait until I was old enough to enter UA or even another hero school. This way, I would have the time to accumulate a good physique while still continuing to keep up with my studies. Obviously there will be times were I will have to rely on strength rather than my quirk so I feel like the decision in keeping me out of UA was a good one. If others the same age as I am were allowed to start hero work, then that might cause an uproar, not to mention that villains might target me specifically just because of my age," The greenette explained as he made gestures with his hands. Aizawa smirked when he realized that this boy was thinking rationally and even thought things through. Even though this boy seemed to be really eager in becoming a hero, he still had some sense.

Nezu eyed the greenette. "I'm sure you know that UA still has an open spot in the hero course considering you're somehow in connection with Katsuki Bakugo?" Midoriya have a questioning look before Nezu explained, "His mother came here yesterday with a complaint about you not being able to enter the hero course." He sipped his tea quietly as he thought of the loud blonde. Now he realized where the young teen had gotten his loud and hotheaded personality.

"And that open spot is what I came here to talk about," Aizawa grumbled, wanting to get to the point of the conversation since he was supposed to be on his break, taking a nap. He eyed the white furred creature as he seemed to be thinking about something.

"Alright," Nezu began as he hopped off of his chair, walking over to the two taller males. "How would you like to stay at UA for today? Well, you don't really have a choice given those troublesome reporters at the entrance." The greenette had to stop himself from letting his mouth hang open in shock as he nodded his head yes. "This can be a little rest run for both of you. If Midoriya is able to keep up with the class then there should be no problem; Aizawa can also see if you really are suitable as a student in his class," Nezu explained with a wide smile adorning his face.

"Okay..." Midoriya let a small shaky smile spread on his face as his green curls bounced while he nodded his head.

What a great first day this would be....


	9. Cute Little Surprise

Well this was...interesting.

Midoriya did not expect a class of students from UA to act so...how should he phrase it...chaotic? Aizawa said he would go in first to explain things but Midoriya could hear the class even from outside of the door. He fiddled with his hands and stared at the floor. What if they don't like them? What if Bakugo is in this class?

"What are you doing back in here?" Midoriya heard someone ask; it was most likely Present Mic considering how loud his voice was. The greenette heard low talking from the other side of the door before his name was announced.

He knew he was supposed to walk through the door at that time, but he was just staring at the door, frozen in place. He jumped a little when the door opened a little. It was Aizawa. The teacher gave off a questioning glance, "What's wrong?"

"Ah- um... nervous..." he mustered out as he fidgeted in his spot. There was a little tug on the sleeve of his black uniform; he wore his school's uniform since well he didn't have anything else. His emerald eyes flickered up to meet the hero's charcoal black eyes.

"Come on. You'll be fine," he replied as he continued to tug at the sleeve of the boy's uniform. The greenette looked worried as he stepped forwards into the classroom. He kept his head down and clutched the straps of his yellow book bag even more. He hesitantly glanced up a little bit but immediately focused his attention to the ground again; he didn't like the fact that everyone was staring at him so he quickly went and hid behind Aizawa. The teacher sighed and mumbled as he faced the short teen, "You're really shy, aren't you?"

"I-um- too many people..." his soft voice barely carried through the silent classroom. Some of the people in the class were internally screaming at the moment. How can someone be _that_ cute? The class watched curiously as the greenette hid behind their teacher. If they were being honest, it just added to his adorableness. Present Mic looked behind Aizawa to talk to Midoriya.

"Come on, they don't bite. Well...maybe Bakugo but-" Present Mic got whacked on the head as some people snickered at the comment.

"You're supposed to be helping him," Aizawa growled. He stopped when he noticed Midoriya perked up at Present Mic's comment. The short teen had peeked his head out from behind the tall black haired hero as his emerald orbs scanned the room. His eyes landed on the ash blond that the two were talking about.

"Hi Kacchan..." he spoke softly before glancing back down on the floor. The class was confused about the nickname and why Bakugo didn't tell them that he knew someone as cute as this boy. Midoriya's eyes flickered up to see two familiar faces. He peeked out a little more and gave a small shy smile. "Hi Kirishima and Kaminari..."

Some of the girls squealed at that moment, rambling on about the boy.

"Oh he's so cute can we keep him? Can he stay?"

"I just want to squish his cheeks...."

"Aww! His smile is so cute!"

"I want to squeeze him in a hug."

Midoriya blushed a beet red at the compliments and tried to cover his face. Though it was pretty difficult with the glasses on his face. The glasses part honestly left Bakugo confused; Midoriya had near perfect vision so why did he need glasses? He didn't wear them the other day so what was the reason for doing it? He would have to ask later.

"That's enough," Aizawa glared while activating his quirk, making the class shut up instantly. "Ok Midoriya is going to stay with here as an...experiment. Midoriya go sit behind Bakugo in the open seat," he explained as he gestured to the seat. He left the classroom and mumbled something about a nap.

Midoriya shuffled to his seat. "Is this experiment to see how focused we can stay during class? Because I think I'll be able to focus a lot but not on the lesson," Kaminari whispered to Ashido. She stifled a laugh before everyone got settled down again for the rest of the English lesson they were in the middle of.

* * *

Now, Midoriya was pretty smart but...he had no clue on what to do in this situation.

He went to the bathroom after the classes and before lunch. He was originally planning on going to lunch with Bakugo, but it seems like he left him behind. The greenette looked for Kaminari and Kirishima as well. Though, he couldn't find them anywhere. He looked around and spotted someone he recognized from his class.

He paused before walking up to them, leaning forwards a bit to tap on their shoulder since they were taller. The girl had turned her attention to him. "Um- s-s-sorry to bother you but...I don't know where the cafeteria is...c-can you help me?" He stuttered out, barely making eye contact with the black haired girl. She smiled at him in which he himself returned a shaky smile in return. "Oh- I'm- I'm Izuku Midoriya," he paused as he met her gaze, "..what's your name...?"

"Ah! You're just so cute—" she watched as his eyes drifted away from hers and looked off to the side as his face turned a brilliant read color. She laughed a little, "Ok ok I apologize. My name is Momo Yaoyorozu and I'll be happy to help!" She waved her hand, motioning the greenette to the lunch room as she walked. She continued to head to the cafeteria when she noticed that Midoriya started following her.

The greenette's eyes were trained on the floor as he walked. He pictured different things in his mind and noted that he would sketch out his ideas later. It seems that everywhere he looked just sprouted an idea or his mind would always offer an image to his eyes. He would always like to see things that were messed up or damaged to try and create a picture in his mind with the little lines in the rubble or cracks. He had quite the imagination, he had to admit.

He always observed things carefully as well. Not only objects but people as well. He noted how they acted, what they did, and sometimes thought of why they did it. No one really talked to him so he always had the time to do it. Sure, he had a friend or two, but he felt like they were just pretending.

Midoriya snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see Yaoyorozu smiling at him as she told him where to find the lunch line and such. She was soon pulled away from some of her friends, leaving Midoriya alone.

He felt upset. He really did think that he and Yaoyorozu could be really good friends, but she had to leave, didn't she? He guessed he understood; he wouldn't want to be near himself either. He was just too awkward, too _selfish_. He was just too selfish to think that he should deserve someone's attention. They had other things to do, other things to worry about, so why should he try and snag their attention? For what? Just so he can stumble on his words and act like a fool?

His chest ached as he gripped the lunch tray. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he got out of the lunch line; his eyes flickered back and forth to spot an empty table. Unfortunately, he couldn't find one but he spotted a familiar blob of ash blond hair. His immediate thought was to go over to Bakugo but he felt like he would be so bothersome. The ash blond _bullied_ him after all. Midoriya realized that there was probably a reason for that. The greenette noted how much his personality sucked so that was probably the reason no one wanted to be friends with him. It didn't matter if they thought he was quirkless; it was all his fault, all him and...he can't change himself no matter how hard he tried.

He looked around the cafeteria before finding a relatively empty table. Though, he noticed someone sitting there. It was a boy with half white and half red hair. Midoriya recognized the boy from Class 1-A; the boy sat in the back so it was, presumably, due to the fact that the guy probably wasn't a very social person. Or maybe the guy just didn't have many friends...

Midoriya walked over to the table, but not before adjusting the glasses on his face. He tapped the dual haired boy on the shoulder when he got there and started to speak, "Hi um-"

He was quickly interrupted when an alarm started blaring over the noise of the cafeteria. People started standing up one by one, trying to get to the exit. The greenette was shoved, causing the lunch tray he had in his hands to be shoved against his own chest.

Ah...how familiar....

He didn't get upset; he just squeezed his way through the crowd and went to a table, setting the now empty lunch tray and his stained black blazer on the table the heterochromatic eyed boy was at. Midoriya wasn't really concerned about the uproar, just confused. Why did students of UA react so poorly to an alarm? He heard that it was something about a villain alarm but still. These people went to a _hero_ school—the most prestigious one in Japan might he add— so did they just expect for villains _not_ to target their school?

At that moment, the dual haired teen was shoved into him, but oddly enough, the taller boy's arms just wrapped around him, sort of encasing the smaller green haired boy in a hug of sorts. It seems that the dual haired teen noticed as he put his hands to the side but didn't step away; he couldn't really do so since there were so many people in the cafeteria. The boy's heterochromatic eyes met the smaller boy's emerald eyes. "I'm Shoto Todoroki," he stated.

Wow...what an introduction.

"You're Izuku Midoriya, correct?" Todoroki quizzed casually. As if Midoriya _wasn't_ practically squished up against his chest. The greenette nodded a bit but not much since he couldn't really move. At that moment, someone accidentally hit Todoroki in the back, making the taller boy wince.

Least to say, Midoriya didn't like that very much.

He growled... _literally_. Todoroki seemed to notice and was about to question it until the greenette wiggled out from in front of him and navigated his way around the crowd. Midoriya didn't quite know where he was going; he was so angry about someone hurting someone like Todoroki. The guy seemed really nice in Midoriya's opinion...so far. So, he decided to try and put an end to the sea of distressed students. He knew he needed to find something high in the cafeteria. He was searching until the window caught his attention when someone moved, showing a brief image of what was outside.

Something seemed to click in his mind when he remembered those rowdy reporters from this morning. His eyes shot from place to place until he found somewhere high enough to announce what was happening.

The question is, how would he manage to get up there?


	10. What’s the Answer?

Well this was going to be difficult.

Midoriya had formed a plan but for that plan to happen he needed space. But he also needed to get out of the crowd. Though, in order to do so he would need to use his quirk. He wasn't completely sure if that was allowed though.

At that moment, someone had run into him and pushed near his face, effectively knocking his glasses off. He went to pick them up but someone stepped on them, cracking them a bit. He huffed as he picked up the wrecked frame and placed it in his pocket.

Okay, he didn't care if quirk usage was allowed or not now.

There was a small poof around him before he was darting around. When he reached an open space there was another poof. Thankfully no one was watching as he jumped up. There was a puff of smoke around him when the last poof happened. And afterwards, he was left back to normal as he clung onto the ledge. He climbed up and steadied himself on the platform.

Once he got up there. Well, let's just say the whole UA student body received one hell of a scolding from someone younger than all of them.

* * *

So what exactly was Midoriya's quirk?

Well, that's what most of the class was thinking right about it right now. Maybe it was an intelligence quirk? They knew the greenette was pretty smart just based off of seeing him basically excelling in all of the subjects they had went through for the day. Especially for such a prestigious school as UA.

Though, that thought was turned down when Bakugo had said that the curly haired teen had been smart from the start. It was time for hero training...or it was _supposed_ to be; hero training was cancelled after the sudden news reporter intrusion. Although the class had to wonder where Midoriya and Mr. Aizawa were at. The two had been gone since the bell rang five minutes ago.

At that moment, Aizawa walked in and combed his hands though his charcoal colored hair as he sighed and looked to the class. "Obviously this is a free period but it looks like Midoriya got hit by a quirk," the man huffed before explaining the situation further. He said that it was the result of a scared guy that thought Midoriya was a villain or news reporter that had broken into the school; the guy hit the greenette with his quirk before scurrying away.

"What was the extra's quirk?" Bakugo asked, sounding irritated but on the inside he was worrying.

Aizawa paused as he scanned the class' faces, noting the looks of worry plastered on most of their faces. If Midoriya managed to get along with most of the class, then he would make a perfect addition. Not to mention that the other teachers told him about how well Midoriya did in different subjects. The teacher finally sighed, "It was a neko quirk but-"

"Can we see him?" Most of the class asked. To think that Midoriya was already adorable now; how would he look with cat ears and a tail? Now that would be cuteness to the _max_.

"No," Aizawa deadpanned. He told them to work on their homework or something as he left the room. The black haired male slightly snickered as he heard the class yell after he left the room.

"How could Mr. Aizawa deprive us of such a sight?" Uraraka pretend fainted as she whined. She quickly sat up as he continued, "Like can you imagine someone as cute as him with cat ears and stuff? Gah! So cute!"

"Yeah too bad we can't see him," Hagakure countered as she rested her head in her palm(though the class didn't notice her action). The others just either talked about Midoriya being a neko and such until a certain half and half boy spoke up.

"Wait did Mr. Aizawa say it was temporary or permanent?" Todoroki questioned. The whole class went from upset to hopeful. Well, some of them wanted to die inside at the thought of it being permanent; that much cuteness could kill someone in an instant.

"But he was just here for today, right? So we probably won't be able to see him again anyways," Sero countered. Some of the class whined when realizing the black haired boy might be right...for once. Others began to ask Bakugo for answers and ask him if he could get Midoriya to meet up with the class; it was obvious that the ash blond had some kind of connection with the greenette. Well, they knew the connection was them going to school together when they were little, but they felt like it was something different. After all, Midoriya only directed a smile at Kirishima and Kaminari when he was being introduced to the class.

"Come on Bakugooo," the pink skinned girl begged. She thought for a moment, "If you don't then I'll tell him that you like himmmm."

Bakugo stilled for a second before his face went back into a scowl, "And how are you going to do that if you can't see him in the first place, dumbass?" Ashido went to speak as her mouth hung open, trying to form a sentence. She huffed in defeat when she realized that the ash blond made a point.

"Actually..." Kirishima paused for a second before looking over to his hotheaded friend, "We can just ask that purple haired guy. He goes here so all we have to do is track him down and ask him about Midoriya."

"You motherfucker-" Bakugo snarled.

* * *

Midoriya, on the other hand, was back in Recovery Girl's office.

He was all giddy from just being able to see the healing hero up close. Though, he had to push that feeling away as he paid attention to what the woman was saying. She told him that he was fine and wasn't really impacted that much from the quirk. The only downside was the ears and tail. It wasn't permanent. Though, Midoriya was fine with it.

After a few minutes of sitting patiently in the small bed, the door creaked open, revealing a familiar white furred creature and Aizawa. Nezu had hopped over and went so he was in front of the green haired teen. The teen's green tail flickered behind him with curiosity.

Though, he quickly pieced together that the two staff members were probably here to chat, not to scold him. His green ears with white fluff on the inside has perked up and forwards, showing that he was listening to the other two. They weren't surprised by Midoriya's ability to move the extra limbs; having extra attachments were part of his quirk after all.

Aizawa gestured to the ears and Midoriya nodded as he leaned forward and ducked his head. He let out a small purring noise when he felt rough yet gentle hands pet his head. He closed his eyes and relaxed. "Well it seems that you still have the instincts of a cat, hm?" Nezu observed as the greenette's purring started getting a little louder.

Midoriya was able to stifle out a small hum before Aizawa pulled his hand away. The greenette's ears shifted back in annoyance as his tail swished behind him. He quickly snapped out of it as he stopped his tail from moving so angrily. His ears went back up to indicate that he was listening to the two.

Nezu paused as he began, "I know this day hasn't been the best in terms of getting to know how things work around here..." he paused as he put his words together. "After talking with Aizawa and the other teachers, I believe that you would be a perfect addition to Class 1-A. We would like to offer you the open spot in the class if you're willing to take it."

Aizawa gave his own input, "I watched the way you've interacted— well not so much interacted; you need to work on your social skills a little bit. But I noticed that you can actually be a good leader. I heard students talking about the green curly haired small fry and how he managed to get the entire lunchroom quiet while scolding them." The black haired male internally smiled when remembering the conversation between the students. "Some of the other teachers also noted the way the students watched you during class and whenever you would get something right. Well...it kind of pushed them to work harder. Even the top of the class, Momo Yaoyorozu was having difficulty keeping up."

The black haired male eyed the greenette for a reaction. In which the teen's face sprouted with a light pink at the indirect compliments. Aizawa internally smirked. _At least this kid isn't cocky or full of himself_ , Aizawa thought as Midoriya's head tilted down, a small, shy smile plastered on his face. His tail flickered behind him. Although it wasn't wagging happily like a dogs, you could tell that it was a happy gesture based on how it moved. Well, at least to Aizawa; he was a huge fan of cats.

Midoriya thought about Nezu's offer.

Well, there were many questions and concerns he had. First off, he couldn't really just switch to a knew school that easily; he was already enrolled in a different school. Plus, he wasn't completely sure what his mother had paid for and what she didn't for this school year. He didn't want to waste her money. In addition, wouldn't UA cost money, too? For books, registration, hero costumes, which, Midoriya didn't even have planned out yet, and not to mention dorms.

Midoriya had gotten word from Shinso that UA was starting to build dorms. The likelihood of villains attacking their school had increased because of All Might teaching the school. So, the school felt it was safe if they implemented a dorm system. Which, Midoriya most definitely agreed with; it would be bad for UA's reputation if something had happened to one of their students.

Back to schools, Midoriya wouldn't really miss anything about the public high school he already went to. Well, besides his newfound friend, Yuichi.

Oh, right.

Midoriya felt like a complete douchebag. Just to make friends with him and not show up to school the next day? That must've been a stab in the back; the blue haired teen probably thought a little bit less of Midoriya now. The greenette knew he wanted to be friends with the quirkless boy; he was once in that situation so he knew how much the boy probably needed a friend. Especially when some of the people in the high school still haven't grown up and stopped bullying people who didn't deserve it.

And based off of what Midoriya saw, Yuichi most likely couldn't fend for himself. Not that the greenette thought Yuichi was weak–Midoriya knew the boy was really strong for putting up with that bullshit for who knows how long. Probably even longer than Midoriya since the greenette switched schools in middle school. But Yuichi wasn't exactly the strongest physically. Well, neither was Midoriya but the greenette still had a bit of muscle that he had been building up; he was still working on it. Both him and Shinso worked out together, actually.

Speaking of Shinso, Midoriya hadn't seen him since this morning. Maybe he could ask to hang out today? No. Midoriya would ask just Yuichi to hang out. He needed to reassure the blue haired boy that he really wanted to be friends; bringing someone else along might make the other boy think he was too boring to be with Midoriya alone. Midoriya couldn't leave the boy.

The greenette snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the offer being brought up again. He must've been lost in his thoughts given the two looks from the staff members he had gotten. One was curious and waiting while the other was slightly impatient.

"So? What do you say? Will you accept your invitation to be a part of Class 1-A?" Nezu asked as he waited for the answer he thought he was going to get. Instead, he received a different response.

"No."


	11. And I Thought You Were Smart

Dirt crunched underneath the crimson red shoes as the greenette walked. He hummed as he had a little pep in his step. Well, he couldn't really skip or anything; he still had to walk with his bike at his side. Turns out, he had a flat tire. The day was...interesting to say the least, with visiting UA and all, but he would much rather prefer his daily routine.

He walked home with Shinso beside him; the lavender haired teen couldn't help but steal glances at Midoriya every once and a while. The teen had cat ears and a tail for crying out loud. Which, did Shinso no justice due to the feelings for Midoriya he had been conflicted about.

The greenette was always cute to Shinso but he thought that it wasn't a big deal. At least, until the lavender haired boy began to feel his heart race increase and his face heat up at the thought of the greenette. Well, he couldn't really help it; Midoriya was downright adorable...all the time. And somehow, Shinso noticed, the greenette looked better without the glasses he usually wore. Shinso was told that the glasses were damaged during the cafeteria panic.

The lavender haired teen glanced over when he noticed Midoriya slowed down. "Uhh..." Shinso paused as he looked around, thinking maybe the greenette might have sensed something. Violet eyes flickered back over to the greenette, who was wobbling a bit. The taller boy rushed to the shorter one, staying by his side as he grabbed a hold of the bike and the greenette. "I thought they said you were fine to go home! Is it the quirk? What's wrong? Tell me so I can help, Midoriya," Shinso fretted.

The greenette allowed himself to lean a little more towards Shinso as he spoke. "I'm sleepy...." he mumbled, "...it's..cat part...quirk...." The lavender haired boy could tell that Midoriya was struggling to stay awake.

"Can't you— uh...." Shinso was trying to come up with something until there was a small poof, revealing a small, fluffy, green haired kitten with some patches of white on the muzzle, paws, and tail. _Ok. Fuck. Don't freak out, Hitoshi_. The purple haired boy had a small gay panic in his mind. "Do— I uh...do you want me to...pick you up?" The green haired kitten made a small meow; it was curled up on the floor, seemingly ready to take a nap.

Shinso nodded as he set the bike in place before walking over and grabbing the yellow book bag that was left on the ground; he placed it on his back since he only had a small back for his school supplies. Afterwards, he turned an carefully picked up the small kitten. The teen's first thought was about how fluffy the fur was. Shinso hesitated, unsure of what to do. He needed his hands to guide the bike down the sidewalk but he also needed to hold Midoriya as well. He groaned a little as he held the small kitten close to him, not knowing that the green haired kitten was falling asleep.

Shinso heard light purring and looked down in his arms, shocked about the noise the kitten— his friend..?— was making. He wasn't sure if he should just wait for Midoriya to wake up from his cat nap or just figure out a way to make it to the greenette's house.

"Hey!"

Shinso looked up upon hearing the voice. It sounded familiar yet he couldn't associate the voice with a name or face. Violet eyes glanced over to meet sapphire ones. Oh right, it was Midoriya's school friend from yesterday. Yasuo, was it? Maybe Yoshi? No, that didn't sound right. Yukio...? Shinso stood there, trying to remember the boy's name as the latter stood bent over, trying to catch his breath.

The boy stood up straight after a minute or two, "You're...Midoriya's friend, right? We went to the library yesterday? Do you know where he's at? He didn't show up for school today and I was wonderin-" The boy paused when looking at the kitten. He didn't fail to notice Midoriya's book bag on the boy's back, either. "Is that....?"

Shinso snapped out of his thoughts, throwing away the thought of trying to remember this boy's name. "Yeah. He got hit by a quirk that turns him into a neko. I'm not sure how long it'll last but it's not permanent," Shinso sighed as he glanced back down to look at the kitten.

"Ah..um..." the blue haired teen stumbled over his words a bit, the atmosphere between the two becoming a bit awkward. "If I remember correctly..." he paused as his eyes focused on the teen in front of him, "You're Shinso, right?" The purple haired teen nodded as he pursed his lips into a thin line. He really didn't feel the need to remember people's names, they would most likely just come and go like other people did when finding out about his quirk.

The sapphire eyed teen noticed the other's hesitation as he gave a defeated sigh. "I'm guessing you don't remember mine?" He questioned with a small bit of sadness in his eyes. Of course no one would bother to remember him. He's just the quirkless boy who can't do anything, after all. He looked to Shinso as he gave a pained smile, memories of his past slowly starting to resurface, "Well I'm Tafu Yuichi. I suppose we didn't properly introduce our to each other so it's nice to meet you."

Shinso nodded in return as the air went silent yet again; these two were not very good at socializing so the two of them paired together just...wasn't a good match. "I um..do you need help?" Yuichi finally asked as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. The purple haired teen nodded and asked if the other could walk with the bike on the way to Midoriya's house since the bike had a flat tire.

The only thing you could hear was light breathing and the wind blowing past the trees. Sapphire eyes flickered around looking for something, _anything_ to talk about. Meanwhile, Shinso decided to gently pet the green kitten, earning louder purring in response.

"How did he end up like that?" Yuichi asked out of the blue. Shinso's eyes flickered over before heaving a sigh.

"It was a UA student-"

"UA? What was he doing there? Is he okay? I didn't even ask if the quirk impacted him in any way. Is that why he wasn't at sch-"

"Yuichi," Shinso cut in, making the blue haired teen's mouth clamp shut. "He wasn't at school cause he had to stay at UA; the school was surrounded by reporters so there was no way he could get out," he explained briefly.

The cerulean haired boy nodded, opting to stay silent the rest of the time; he didn't like the fact that he just spewed out words at random times. Now Shinso will probably just think he's just a nervous wreck. Which, he was. Midoriya was his only, and probably his first real friend; he hadn't had any due to the fact that he was quirkless.

After five or ten minutes of walking, there was a smal meow. Both boys looked over to see the kitten's eyes open, revealing enchanting emerald orbs. The green haired animal simply hopped out of Shinso's arms before stretching a little. A minute passed before there was a poof and a familiar green haired boy was standing there.

"Thank you for letting me take a small cat nap, Shinso," Midoriya smiled before hearing a small gasp. Emerald eyes landed on the blue haired boy. "Oh Yuichi! I'm so sorry about not coming to school. I got caught up with stuff at UA," he explained, giving a small nervous smile.

"It's fine, school wasn't that bad." _It was horrible._ Yuichi gave a small smile back before bringing up his next question, "So what were you doing there? I know there were only reporters but are you okay?"

The greenette nodded as he took his book bag and bike back, beginning to walk the rest of the way home as the other two followed. "Just a little bruise and that's it."

Shinso hesitated before asking his own question, "Why did the principal want to see you?"

"Oh. He offered me a spot in the hero course," Midoriya stated casually.

"HE WHAT?!" The other two asked. Shinso only slightly raised his voice while Yuichi almost screeched out his concern.

"Well what did you say?!" The blue haired boy stuttered out.

"I told him no," Midoriya looked around and noticed a small butterfly, "Oh that's pretty. Look!" He was stopped when the blue haired boy stepped in front of him, shaking his shoulders.

"Are you crazy? You had an opportunity to get into Japan's most prestigious school, and in the hero course nonetheless, and you just flat out told the principal of said school, 'no'?! Midoriya I know I haven't known you that long but aren't you supposed to be the smart one here?!" Yuichi continued to shake the shorter teen's shoulder, trying to express his anger. He stopped after a minute as he narrowed his eyes and looked into the shorter boy's emerald ones. "Why would you do that?" He accidentally blurted out. He had meant for the question to be more serious sounding as opposed to whining and questioning.

"Well..." Midoriya's eyes flickered over before meeting Yuichi's sapphire eyes again, "...I just thought you needed a friend at school. Plus, I have other reasons as well. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon." The shorter boy gave off a cheeky smile before being shaken again by the blue haired quirkless boy.

"You can't jus-" Yuichi was cut off by a voice further down the sidewalk. The other two looked over to see Shinso with the bike, gesturing to an apartment further ahead. Midoriya understood but Yuichi was just left a bit confused, not knowing that the greenette lived at the apartment complex.

"Yuichi do you wanna hang out with me and Shinso at my place? Or do you need to go home?" Midoriya asked as his green tail flickered behind him, curling up a little as he waited for his answer. The blue haired teen agreed, saying that his parents would be fine with it. _No they wouldn't. Or maybe they would? It's not like they care where I'm at...._ Yuichi wondered, different thoughts plaguing his mind as the others continued the rest of the way there.

The three walked the rest of the way, entering the apartment after putting the bike in its appropriate place. The group just worked on homework and things of that nature before both Shinso and Yuichi had to leave. The greenette bid goodbye as he picked up his school books and things he had laid across his bed. He stuffed them in his book bag before pulling out his sketchbook, laying it on the bed as he looked for inspiration on his phone.

Midoriya let a small smile play on his lips as he recalled the look of shock on both Aizawa's and Nezu's face when he had said he didn't wish to join the hero course. The greenette felt satisfied with his decision, getting excited of the thought of the events that would unfold tomorrow.

Surely _he_ would be happy with his decision, right?


	12. What Was The Reason?

"Midoriya!" The blue haired teen whisper shouted as he poked at the other boy's back. "Wake up! We're in class, ya know!" He grumbled as he shook the greenette.

The teacher didn't seem to notice—yet— but Yuichi was still trying to wake his friend from his cat nap. In return, a green tail with a white tip at the end had flickered back and forth. Yuichi groaned and sat back in his seat behind Midoriya, sapphire eyes glancing back up to the board to focus on the lesson.

The teacher turned around to face the class, "Ok so does anyone know the answer to this question?" She gestured to the board before scanning the room, "I could just hand out a pop quiz on the subject since it seems as though none of you were paying attention—" She turned to Midoriya, hoping that her smartest student would be raising his hand. "What happened...?" She asked, genuinely confused on why someone like Midoriya would allow himself to fall asleep during class.

Yuichi raised his hand slightly as he spoke up and pointed to the sleeping greenette. Though, before he could speak, a small purring noise erupted from the curly haired teen, filling the once silent classroom. Some people silently gasped at the noise while others turned their heads to the half cat half human.

"It's part of the cat quirk he got hit with," Yuichi finally explained, talking over the small purring. "He has to take cat naps." The teacher's eyebrows furrowed as she muttered things about 'lazy' and 'excuses'. She made her way up to the sleeping neko.

She placed her hand on his arm and shook him, jolting the boy awake. Green ears flattened against his head as he looked around, cautious of the situation he might be in. His emerald orbs trailed up to meet his teacher's gaze. He went to readjust his glasses until he remembered he didn't have them at the moment since they were broken. The teacher put a hand on her hip as she gave the greenette an accusing gaze.

"So Midoriya, since you want to sleep in my class, what's the measure of angle C when side a equals 44 feet, side b equals 29 feet, and side c equals 50 feet?" She gestured to the board so the greenette could see the equation clearly. Emerald eyes flickered upwards to see the triangle on the board. He glanced away after a second as he looked down at his blank paper. There was a minute of silence before the teacher was about to speak up. Though, Midoriya went to his calculator.

"I'm just double checking..." he mumbled as he typed in a few numbers. He finally tore his gaze off the calculator as his voice carried through the silent classroom, "Angle C would be 83.8°."

The teacher stood there, baffled. She was quick to answer, "Lucky guess. Mind explaining how you got that?" Midoriya nodded as he looked back down, trying to remember the steps he had gone through to get the answer.

"Well first of all you use the equation and plug the numbers in to get fifty squared equals forty-four squared plus twenty-nine squared minus two times forty-four times twenty-nine times the Cosine of angle C. You multiply the squared numbers and distribute two to forty-four and twenty-nine. After, you subtract two thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven that you should have gotten by taking forty-four squared plus twenty-nine squared. Anyways, subtract that from the other side of the equation and you should get negative two hundred seventy-seven equals negative two thousand five hundred fifty-two Cosine C. Then you divide negative two thousand five hundred fifty-two on both sides of the equation in order for them to cancel out so you can get Cosine C by itself. You'll have the fraction negative two hundred seventy-seven over negative two thousand five hundred fifty-two equals Cosine C. Get C by itself by dividing Cosine on both sides. Then, you'll have Angle C equals the inverse Cosine of the fraction negative two hundred seventy-seven over negative two thousand five hundred fifty-two. Once you get the inverse Cosine, you get the answer Angle C equals 83.8°," he explained, writing out the things on his page as he spoke.

The bell rang and everyone was just left stunned. Midoriya quickly packed his thinks up and dragged Yuichi along with him to lunch. Though, the blue haired teen was amongst the stunned people, so he just allowed the shorter teen to drag him along.

The teacher blinked before muttering, "Guess there's no pop quiz...." The rest of the class eventually flooded out of the classroom, not really understanding half of what Midoriya had said.

* * *

"Ow!" Midoriya exclaimed as Yuchi poked his cheek. At the moment, the two were on their way to the library again. The greenette had only helped due to the small bruises still covering his face. Though, the blue haired teen forgot due to the makeup covering it.

Yuichi seemed to remember given the reaction he had earned. He apologized worriedly before asking the question he wanted to ask when he had poked his friend's cheek. "How do you fit so much information in your brain? You're like the smartest person I know. Well, besides the part about you rejecting an open spot to UA's hero course-"

"Hey! I have my reasons!" Midoriya pouted as he looked up to the taller male. Emerald eyes flickered forwards as his hands gripped his yellow straps.

"And those reasons are...?" Yuichi probed. Midoriya sent him a side glance before he looked forwards.

"You'll find out soon enoug-" the greenette was stooped when a purple blob had crashed into him, successfully tackling him in a hug. Thankfully, Midoriya had regained his balance as he was pulled into a bear hug. Though, he didn't expect to be lifted of his feet and spun around, still trapped in the hug.

A familiar tuft of lavender hair had engulfed Midoriya's vision. He heard a string of 'thank yous' coming out of the taller boy's lips, having a more joyous tone than the greenette had usually heard. "You really didn't have to do that," Shinso breathed out, still hugging the smaller boy tightly.

"Uh sorry to...you know interrupt this moment, but I'm lost," Yuichi voiced out. He watched as Midoriya was slowly let down onto the ground by Shinso. The greenette turned to him but the lavender haired teen continued to hug the greenette from behind.

"Well...I wanted to keep it a secret until now but-" he looked up to see Shinso with a faint smile on his face. "The reason I had said no is because I wanted to give someone else a chance. Meaning-" Midoriya was cut off by the violet eyed boy.

"Midoriya gave up his spot in the hero course to recommend me as a student instead. Which, surprisingly worked. How did you convince them?" Shinso asked as he gave one final squeeze before stepping back.

Midoriya snorted, "Shinso you dork. Your quirk is perfect for the hero course. Honestly I don't see why they didn't pick you first. I told them about the entrance exams and their unfair way of testing possible students like you. From what I could tell, Mr. Aizawa seemed interested about your quirk."

Yuichi smiled. He really admired Midoriya in a lot of different ways. This was just another example of it. How could someone be so kind and selfless? He applauded and congratulated Shinso on getting into UA, becoming a bit more familiar with the lavender haired boy.

The trio continued their way into the library, Midoriya rambling on about heroes or drawing ideas he had stored away in his mind. Yuichi's phone dinged, earning a small bit of messages from an angry parent. The other two had looked over when the sapphire eyed boy had heaved out a sigh. "I guess that's my cue to leave," he gave out a small smile, suppressing the nervousness he had hidden underneath.

"Oh ok then. See you Monday then?" Midoriya asked as he waved goodbye, the blue haired boy already starting to walk off. Yuichi nodded as he returned the goodbye and jogged off to the bus stop.

The, now duo, had redirected their route to Midoriya's house. Though, they quickly stumbled upon a familiar trio, plus two others. There was the familiar ash blond, the redhead, and the other blond with the black lighting-bolt shaped hair. The other two, a boy and a girl, had black and pink hair respectively. Though, Midoriya observed that the girl had black where the white was supposed to be; she also had pink skin, which was odd, but Midoriya didn't mind. His green and white tail flickered behind him in curiosity as he peeped out from behind Shinso, who, had pulled Midoriya behind him.

"Oh my gosh you look so adorable!" The pink skinned girl exclaimed as she hopped forwards, her hand reaching up to scratch behind the boy's fluffy green cat ears. He jumped back a little but relaxed when the girl began petting and scratching his head. He closed his eyes and let out a purring noise, making the others' hearts basically explode from cuteness.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right, Kaminari. He is cuter up close," the black haired teen had whispered into the shorter blond boy's ear. Kaminari nodded in return, never tearing his gaze from the short greenette. Hell, none of them did.

Bakugo just walked over and shoved the girl out of the way, continuing to simply pick the smaller boy up by his sides, sliding his hands underneath Midoriya's armpits for support. "So does that mean you do that weird fucking cat thing where they-" he watched as Midoriya simply hung in the air, his cat tail still flicking about. "Why are you so light?" The ash blond questioned instead. "You're so fucking small."

Midoriya pouted slightly as his face tinted a light pink, looking off to the side in embarrassment. "Well I probably just hadn't had my growth spurt yet!" His cat ears went down as he spoke.

"Growth Spurt? Like you're gonna get one! You're shorter than Pinky over there for fucks sake!" Bakugo furrowed his eyebrows as he sent a grin, usually only using that type of face when he was gonna kill something or absolutely destroy it to pieces.

Kirishima acted quickly and took the small boy from Bakugo's grasp, not wanting him to get hurt. "Dude don't kill him!" The redhead unintentionally pulled Midoriya to his chest as he hugged him.

"Hah? What are you talking about? I was just fucking smiling?!" Bakugo let sparks fly out of his hands as he looked at the redhead. "Dumbass!"

"Wow I didn't know Bakugo could actually smile," The black haired boy, Sero, had snickered as he looked at the situation at hand. "Well, not unless you're bloodthirsty," the charcoal haired boy had added. Ashido, the girl, had laughed along with the comment; she earned a wide grin from Bakugo as a vein on his forehead looked like it was about to pop.

"Yeah maybe I might just kill someone," The ash blond leaped forwards, earning a shriek from all three he had targeted.

"Wait! Why am I being targeted? I didn't even say anything!" Kaminari shrieked as he ran with the others.

"Because you're a fucking dumbass, that's why! Maybe if I fry your brains good enough, it'll reset your brain so it actually functions properly!" Bakugo snarled. Kirishima looked down to see the greenette still in his grasp. The cat ears were pressed up against the green curls.

"Uhm. I appreciate the hug but can you let go please?" Midoriya squeaked, not being very much familiar with the redhead. Kirishima flushed a light pink as he lowered the greenette to the ground and let go.

Shinso internally sighed. Oh how _fun_ it would be to deal with his new classmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the whole equation worked out and written down on paper but I can’t figure out how to add pictures because I’m stupid.


	13. Making Progress...Kind of

“So what’s your deal?” The ash blond glanced over as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

He had failed to receive a response, so he looked over to the greenette, who he was walking home from school. Thankfully, for the sake of everyone’s hearts, the neko quirk that had hit Midoriya had only lasted that one day, promptly dissipating after twenty-four hours. Though, unfortunately for most of Class 1-A, they didn’t have the chance to witness Midoriya with the cat ears and a tail, only hearing descriptions of it from the ‘Bakusquad’.

Emerald eyes shifted over, feeling the familiar gaze of crimson eyes focused on him. “What do you mean by that?” He inquired, raising an eyebrow as he readjusted the straps on his yellow book bag.

“Sleep Paralysis Demon mentioned something about you giving up your spot in the hero course. Like I was saying, what the fuck is your deal?” Blood red eyes scanned the shorter boy for hints or clues that would indicate the greenette was feeling uncomfortable. Bakugo didn’t want to be too harsh with Midoriya; the two were still repairing— well, _trying_ — to repair their friendship.

Midoriya looked perplexed for a second, “Sleep paralysis demon..?” He mumbled before letting out a disapproving sigh, though, there was a small bit of laughter behind it. “You mean Shinso? Kacchan that’s mean!” He hit the taller boy on the arm, although not too roughly. Emerald eyes widened for a second, “Ah! I’m so sorry Kacchan, I just-”

“It’s fine,” The ash blond grumbled, looking off to the side. He wasn’t expecting Midoriya to act so worried and scared over a simple punch. Was it just because it was him or was it because the greenette was just that much of a softie? Was it because Bakugo just left that much of an impact after bullying him?

Bakugo swallowed hard. Midoriya just sighed in slight relief. He paused before backtracking the conversation, “How do you know? I know Shinso, and he wouldn’t be the type to just...I don’t know how to phrase it...openly spout out information? He usually says what is necessary. He’s rather blunt.” The greenette eyed the taller one suspiciously, “Or did you initiate the conversation?”

“I...might have asked him why you were at UA the other day,” he supplied, huffing when the smaller boy had given him an accusing look.

“Ask or threatened him into telling you?” Midoriya stopped at the apartment steps when he realized the ash blond hadn’t followed. “You coming?” He asked as he nodded up towards his apartment, “Shinso said he had training to do and Yuichi had personal stuff to deal with.” The greenette knew that Bakugo didn’t really like hanging around...anyone really, but he thought he might mention that so he could at least try to get the ash blond to follow him.

Bakugo left the first question unanswered, opting to answer the shorter boy’s first question, albeit in his own special way. He trailed behind the greenette silently as they made their way up to the small apartment.

“Mom?” Midoriya called out as he opened the door, his voice laced with uncertainty. He’d forgotten if his mother was off of work today or not, but he would much rather mention his presence; he was aware that his mother was a very worrisome person.

He had failed to receive an answer. He sighed as he quietly shut the door behind him, Bakugo having entered the apartment first. They both took their shoes off before heading to the greenette’s room, the shorter boy’s anxiety slowly climbing at the realization that the two were home alone.

Surely Bakugo wouldn’t lash out and hurt him, right? Midoriya deeply hoped so; from what he knows, Bakugo’s quirk isn’t anywhere near laughable, it was quite powerful. Midoriya knew from experience. And, though he did have a quirk of his own now, he wasn’t quite sure what the limits, strengths, pros, and cons of it yet. Which, was also a primary factor in his decision to stay out of the hero course.

Sure, he used his quirk well enough to pass the exam, but he didn’t quite know how it would hold up against different types of quirks, specially destructive quirks.

Midoriya opened the door to his room anyways, inviting the ash blond into it. The greenette’s eye twitched a little upon hearing an unfamiliar cackling noise from Bakugo once in the room. Emerald eyes peeped inside before he walked in. He noticed Bakugo holding his hand to his face, trying to suppress his onslaught of laughter.

“I- haha- I forgot how fucking nerdy your room was,” the ash blond snickered as he took a glance at the All Might themed room. Truth be told, he didn’t really pay attention to it the first time around, his thoughts busying himself at that time. Though now, the realization must’ve hit him; Bakugo really didn’t mind it, but he still wanted to poke fun at the greenette. He wasn’t expecting Midoriya to blush out of embarrassment.

Mission ‘make-Midoriya-look-like-an-idiot’ failed. We’ll get ‘em next time.

Bakugo haulted in his movements, his brain shutting down when seeing the boy like that. The ash blond couldn’t help it; Midoriya looked _really_ cute.

“Well- uh-“ Bakugo looked to the side, his own face beginning to blossom into a nice shade of pink. “Do you have anything fun to do? Or do you just have a bunch of boring shit?” He recovered by asking a question or two, leaving Midoriya time to think and for him to cool off.

“Ah- well- um...” Midoriya didn’t really have anything ‘fun’ to do. He usually spent his free time drawing or writing in his notebooks, occasionally watching an All Might movie or something of that sort.

His eyes flickered over to his, mostly untouched, TV. “Well we could watch a movie if you want?” He offered, seemingly nervous.

Even with Shinso or Yuichi, Midoriya wasn’t exactly the best at socializing. He didn’t really know what to do when hanging out with friends; it was a territory he was rather unfamiliar with. Not to mention that he wasn’t even the same age as the people in his grade. He knows that two years isn’t much, but he still felt out of place.

Bakugo seemed to eye the greenette before nodding briefly, walking over to the bed before sitting down on it. He rolled his eyes a little when he found Midoriya took a spot on the floor as opposed to the bed.

As they were setting up the movie, the ash blond eyed the curly green locks positioned by the bed. He was tempted to just run his hands through the seemingly soft and fluffy hair.

And that’s exactly what he did.

“K-Kacchan..?” The greenette’s voice came out as a small whisper, “What at you-” Midoriya paused as he felt the hand move across his curly hair, the ash blond basically petting him at this point. Though Midoriya was still confused about the situation, he wasn’t as anxious, being relaxed by the gesture.

Bakugo silently awed at the hair’s cloud-like texture. He was laying on the bed, but unknowingly scooted closer. He didn’t even realize that he had buried his face in the fluffy green locks until it was too late. He closed his eyes and resting his chin on Midoriya’s head, cherishing this moment.

Wait—

Bakugo shot up as wide emerald eyes looked at him with shock and confusion. “What was that, Kacchan?” The greenette squeaked, a rosy pink adorning his face.

“Well it’s not my fault your hair is fucking fluffy!” Bakugo countered, sitting up as he crossed his arms with his back against the wall. “Don’t act like You didn’t stop me in the first place,” The ash blond added, huffing as he did so.

“W-Well someone messing with your hair is nice sometimes! Like—” Midoriya stood up and sat on the bed, across Bakugo. He reached forwards and tangled his hands through the ash blond locks, combing his hands through them.

Bakugo had abstractedly ducked his head and leaned forwards, giving the greenette more access to his spiked ash blond hair. Crimson eyes closed, too focused on the soft hands that had run through his hair delicately. Bakugo’s eyes opened when hearing the TV start blasting lines that contained the word ‘All Might’ in some way. Though, the taller boy was too engrossed by the fact that Midoriya was messing with his hair to give his full attention to what was being said.

Though, that didn’t stop Midoriya.

The greenette had stopped and turned around, his back previously turned to the TV. “Oh Kacchan the movie is—” he yelped in surprise when he was pulled and picked up, positioned against the wall in a sitting position. A pillow was set in his lap and shortly after, a head of ash blond hair as well. His hands were brought down to the spiky hair yet again, the only think Bakugo mumbled was ‘pet’ before closing his eyes.

_Okayyyy then..._

* * *

Now, Bakugo wasn’t one to act so suddenly but—

**“WHAT THE FUCK?”**

He jolted off the bed and rolled onto the floor as he thought about what he had woken up to. A very gorgeous looking green haired boy sleeping while his own head was in said greenette’s lap.

“Kacchannnn why are you being so loud?” The younger one complained as he rubbed his eyes, having been asleep beforehand. His emerald orbs soon fluttered open hesitantly, taking in the light that shone off the TV. Bakugo, in answer to the question, just gestured to their situation.

“This!” He exclaimed, though, not as loud as before.

“Kacchan...you were the one to lay in my lap...you set me here and just said ‘pet’ as you put my hands on your hair..” Midoriya explained, a bit skeptical as to why Bakugo would forget something that had happened...maybe an hour or two ago..?

Bakugo paused as he thought, the memories slowly seeping into his mind as he recalled what had happened earlier. Though, he decided to play it off. “It was probably because of hero training so I couldn’t think straight,” he stated. _Of course you wouldn’t think straight, Katsuki. You’re fucking ga—_

“I see,” Midoriya hummed before he let a small smile play on his rosy pink lips. “It’s okay. I didn’t mind, Kacchan,” he added as he took the pillow off of his lap, placing it back in its place. He strolled over and turned off the TV. “Do you want to get a snack or lunch? _Maybe dinner..? What time is it..._ ” With that, Midoriya was soon lost in one of his muttering sessions.

Bakugo had, in turn, scolded himself for doing something like that. Though he had to admit, Midoriya did look...cute when sleeping. While Midoriya was getting his thoughts together, he looked over to see a small photo. It was an old one, showing a rather young version of himself and the greenette. Bakugo wasn’t really expecting a recent photo in Midoriya’s room, but even one with the both of them was rare. He allowed a small smirk to form on his face as he focused at the photo.

He would do his damn best to try to make their friendship even better than it was back then.


	14. Slight Altercation

It had been roughly two weeks since Shinso joined the hero course. Over the past two weeks he's gotten somewhat familiar with his new classmates. Well, it was only natural since the class wasn't very familiar with themselves; it had only been a week into the school year when Shinso was transferred.

Despite their overly enthusiastic personality, well most of them, Shinso was rather fond of the class, even if he didn't admit it out loud. He kind of liked his group of goofballs—with the exception of Bakugo.

He didn't know why—actually, he knew exactly why the porcupine had bothered him so much. One, he absolutely hated his sour attitude and how he got angry at literally everything. Two, he was bothered so much by that egotistical asshole; he was so cocky and full of himself that it was suffocating. Three—well there isn't really a third one, Shinso tries to convince himself—he doesn't really like the fact that the class hothead is relatively close to Midoriya...somehow. Shinso doesn't actually know how the greenette managed to have somewhat of a relationship with Bakugo but the teen supposed that Midoriya could make anyone his friend.

Besides that, Shinso really enjoyed the hero course. Most of his classmates were already in their friend groups, but he knew that the rest of them were alright(friend-wise). None of them bothered to judge him for his quirk, which he was afraid about, but hearing about this led to Midoriya finding out.

Which, the greenette already knew the name of the quirk, but he never asked questions or pried; Midoriya knew Shinso was rather blunt and didn't want to share so he just veered away from the topic. Now that Shinso was freely discussing things about his quirk, well—

Midoriya had tons of questions he wanted to document in his notebook. In fact, the greenette had started to ask the rest of the class—the small group that he had access to when they accompanied Shinso—questions about their quirks as well. Albeit the others didn't mind the curly haired teen's muttering or over-excited fanboying; they found it rather cute to see the boy so giddy.

Though, Midoriya observed Yuichi's absence all the while; the greenette would often try and invite the blue haired boy to hang out with the other UA students, but he was often 'busy'. The curly haired teen was skeptical. Did Yuichi not want to be his friend? Was he just using him to keep the bullies at bay?

Midoriya later found out that it was most likely the amount of people; Yuichi had accepted an invite to hangout when he knew that it would just be him and Midoriya. Which, is where they are now: walking around aimlessly as they walk wherever or whatever seems interesting.

The greenette had clutched the straps of his book bag, having just exited the school along with Yuichi; Bakugo and the others had an extra class for the hero course, so Yuichi and Midoriya got out earlier than them. Even with the extracurriculars they had joined, they still got out earlier. Emerald eyes flickered up, only to see sapphire eyes focused on the ground.

Was there something bothering Yuichi...?

"Um— I was just curious—" the taller blue haired boy peered over at the smaller greenette, finally raising an eyebrow as he lifted his head up. "Well—I mean you don't have to answer but—" Yuichi simply waited for Midoriya to ask; the blue haired boy didn't acknowledge or make fun of the emerald eyed boy for stumbling over his words. Yuichi tended to stumble and stutter often too, but he would usually snap his mouth shut afterwards, avoiding the other's gaze with...shame? Midoriya steered away from those thoughts before continuing his question, "Why don't you want to hang out with everyone else..?"

Yuichi let out something between a scoff and a sad laugh, "I know they're your friends, but I don't quite trust them..."

Midoriya was baffled.

"But— How you know that you can't trust them? You haven't even met them?" Midoriya countered. He wasn't angry or upset, just confused on why Yuichi came to that conclusion.

"Well— it's just— I just—ugh! Shouldn't you understand somewhat? Like—" Yuichi paused, huffing out and irritated groan as he ran his fingers through his hair. Midoriya just guided him to a bench, seeing as this might be a rather long conversation. The greenette didn't say anything as he allowed his friend to recollect his himself. As they both sat down, the blue haired boy let out a small breath.

"It's okay, take all the time you need. We can go somewhere else if you prefer...?" Midoriya offered with a small reassuring smile.

Yuichi shook his head, "It's just that I'm worried about what they might say. They're UA students with such great quirks and..." They boy trailed off, the lump in his throat preventing him from speaking.

"And you're worried they might judge you for being quirkless...." Midoriya whispered softly. Yuichi gave a small silent nod and the greenette closed his eyes. "I understand. It would be a pretty tough blow if you opened up to someone and they turn away just because of something you can't help. Trust me, I've been there before— before—" Midoriya stopped, willing his own tears to go away at the thought of the unpleasant memories that had popped up.

"I'm sorry, Midoriya. I just don't want to get hurt by someone again," Yuichi breathes out.

 _Again? But Yuichi never mentioned having any childhood friends—_ Midoriya shook his head, not wanting to pry deeper but also preparing his next statement. "It's okay," The greenette hesitated but reached over and pulled the other into a hug, "I'll still be your friend no matter what."

The taller boy willed away his tears but couldn't help them from falling nonetheless. He hugged back as an overwhelming amount of happiness filled his heart. He had a friend. A _friend_. One that was real and not the ones that he had made up so long ago. This one was _real_. And this one was probably going to stay with him forever...he hoped.

* * *

"Oh my god!"

Before Shinso knew it, a small blob of green had engulfed him in a tight hug. Which, was _really_ tight considering the boy's fair amount of muscle he had gained. The taller teen had hugged back, the rest of his classmates watching as they slowly filed out of the UA entrance.

"You're okay! I know you text me and told me not to worry but Shinshi you scared me!" Midoriya gripped tighter before loosening his grip and looking over at the others with a concerned look, ignoring his nervousness. "No one got hurt, right?" He asked as he went over to Sero to look him over, already familiar with the members of the 'Bakusquad'.

Kaminari snorted, "'Shinshi'?" He looked over to Shinso to see a faint blush covering his face as Midoriya ignored the nickname to look over his other friends for injuries.

"Awee! I like it!" Ashido gushed as she beamed at the lilac haired boy.

"Well you can't use it. Come up with your own nickname," Shinso grit out.

Bakugo swatted Midoriya's hand, who was assessing him for injuries, and swiftly put the smaller boy into a headlock, although not too tight. "Will you stop, nerd? Everyone's fine," he scoffed as Midoriya pouted, stuck with the ash blond's arm around him. "Our own nickname, huh?" Bakugou addressed Shinso. "I already have a couple: Insomniac, Sleep Paralysis Demon, Eyebags—"

"Kacchan stop. That's mean," Midoriya whined as he wriggled out of the taller boy's headlock. The greenette had gotten a little better at talking with the blond, less anxious than before while speaking with him.

"What? You have something better? Like what kind of nickname is 'Shinshi'?" Bakugo sneered as he turned to the shorter boy.

"Well Shinso likes it. You're such a hypocrite; you call people all of these nicknames but once someone calls someone else a nickname you make fun of it? I could just stop calling you 'Kacchan'—"

There was a harsh tug at Midoriya's shirt as he was pulled forwards; he heard the familiar sound of explosions and the small smile on his face had quickly faded as he stilled. "You fucking mocking me, _Deku_?"

Midoriya had quickly snapped out of it as a slightly shaky, yet playful, smirk appeared on his face. "Y-Yeah! What are you gonna do about it, _Kacchan_?" He retorted jokingly. Though, the rest of the class didn't know that it was just playful banter; they genuinely thought that the greenette was mere seconds from being blown to smithereens.

Bakugo's grip tightened, his eyebrows furrowed, and his vicious smirk grew wider, "Oh you asshole. I'll show you—"

Within a second, Midoriya was out of Bakugo's grasp and multiple people seemed to be in a spot to where they were actually about to snatch up the greenette themselves.

"Uhmmm—" Midoriya blurted out in confusion as he looked to see Bakugo searching for where he went. The greenette looked down to see what was wrapped around his stomach before feeling something soft hit his face. His eyes flickered over to see blond locks. His hands immediately went to touch the hair—fur..?—before his mouth flew open and started muttering incoherent phrases, Midoriya being engrossed by the newfound quirk.

_"A mutation quirk? This seems to be the only component of the quirk but it's powerful when put to good use. Judging by the tail alone, it seems like it could carry a lot of weight while also causing a lot of damage given the weight of it based off of the bulkiness. Bulkiness? Is that a word? Well typically bulky is an adjective describing something but when you add the suffix -ness to it, it would become a noun, wouldn't it? That's what usually happens when adding it to a word, like weakness. Therefore bulkiness wouldn't serve it's purpose serving as an adjective to describe the tail— Oh! The tail! So what other functions does it have? It's rather soft—mph!"_

The end of the tail had flickered near his mouth, encasing his face in the soft material for a second. He stopped muttering and looked over to see the blond holding him; Midoriya didn't quite know his name, but he could tell he was friendly. If he was willing to pull him out of the way because he thought Bakugo was about to murder him, then Midoriya would say that is _very_ friendly.

Midoriya was grateful, but he didn’t really need the help in the first place; it was just some small banter that the two had grown slightly used to. The greenette’s eyes landed on Bakugo yelling at his ...friends? Is that what Bakugo wanted Midoriya to refer to them as? Is _he_ Bakugo’s friend now...? No wait, Bakugo said that they were. He’ll call them friends, too.

“Kacchan...” The ash blond didn’t seem to hear over all of his own yelling. “Kacchan,” Midoriya spoke louder when he noticed the small, yet noticeable—at least to the greenette—sparks forming in the ash blond’s palm. Normally Midoriya wouldn’t be able to read Bakugo well—especially after the whole crying on his shoulder thing— but the greenette could surely see the rage surge through the ash blond. As far as Midoriya could tell, Bakugo wasn’t going direct that anger at something, rather some _one_.

It just _happened_.

Midoriya couldn’t control when he somehow managed to get out of the blond’s tail’s grip and immediately ran. He ran and stood in between the two, looking Bakugo dead in the eyes as the explosion hit him right in the chest.

He stumbled to the ground and felt his chest burn, making breathing rather painful. Someone from the class was about to leave the group and head off to their home, bothered by the loud altercation that seemed to be happening. Once they noticed Midoriya shoot in front of Bakugo to take the hit for Kirishima—Bakugo _knew_ could block the explosion—their mouth parted in shock.

Just seeing Midoriya jump into action, not expecting a thank you or anything in return... it reminded them that all people don’t look to become heroes just for their own benefit. Some people became heroes because they wanted to _help_ people. When the greenette had gotten up and looked Kirishima over for a second instead of assessing himself, well the words just poured out of their mouth....

“Midoriya...do you want to be a hero?”


	15. Doubts

Midoriya winced as he held his hand to his chest but quickly gathered himself upon hearing the question directed towards him. He stood up and looked for the source of the voice only to see heterochromatic eyes trained on him, watching him with his what seemed to be curiosity.

"Of course I do!" He exclaimed with a grin and a determined look in his eyes.

"Why?" The dual haired teen had turned his body so it was now fully facing the curly haired teen.

"I want to save people with a smile on my face like All Might! It's been my dream for as long as I can remember!" Midoriya clenched his fists and allowed the goofy grin to spread across his face more.

Todoroki scoffed before looking back to the direction of the exit. "Being a hero isn't sunshine and rainbows. You can be heroic but fail as a hero, you know. Just because you have the attitude certainly doesn't mean you have the skill. If you don't have the strength to become one then you'll just end up getting hurt. If you don't have the power to compensate then you can't be a hero," The dual haired teen spared a side glance before trudging off, leaving the others behind.

Midoriya didn't say anything but Uraraka spoke up, "That wasn't very nice..." the greenette looked over to the brunette who was watching their rather cold-hearted classmate walking off.

The greenette glanced off to the side with a small, sad smile adorning his face. "It's fine...." he paused when he took in a breath, his chest still hurting from the damage Bakugo had done. "Oh—um..." he looked over to Kirishima, "You're okay, right?"

The redhead nodded quickly as he flashed a smile. "Me? What about you? That must've hurt, right? Do you need to go to Recovery Girl?" Kirishima stood in front of the shorter boy and tried to inspect the injury but Midoriya just backed up.

Midoriya must've noticed that some people were scolding Bakugo so he addressed both things. "Ah- no I'm fine! I should be apologizing. I wasn't thinking right. Don't blame Kacchan or anything!" The others stopped and looked to the greenette in confusion. He was quick to notice the pairs of eyes that focused on him. "Well— Kirishima has a hardening quirk—the only quirk, as far as I know, that would be able to withstand Kacchan's explosions without getting injured. Kacchan knew this which is why he went for Kirishima. I mean— not that I wanted Kirishima to get hit either way but if I didn't intervene he would have been fine if he had activated his quirk at the right time...." Midoriya scratched his cheek and looked to the side before looking back up.

"You're so cool, Midoriya! Agh! I wish you were in our class!" Ashido exclaimed.

"Oh yeah that reminds me. What school do you go to, Midoriya?" Sero asked with a glint of curiosity in his eyes.

The greenette shuffled on his feet and wiped the dust off of his outfit to distract himself. Thankfully the explosion wasn't too strong so it didn't damage his uniform to the point of making a huge hole; it was a tiny one that only revealed the white shirt he had under the blazer. He took his black blazer off since he didn't want to walk around with a hole in his clothing.

"Well..." he began as he tucked the blazer into his yellow book bag, "I go to a public school, Nabu High...." He glanced to the side with a guilty look on his face.

"Nabu...isn't that a regular school? As in one that doesn't have a hero course?" Iida inquired with an adjustment of his glasses.

Midoriya meekly nodded and others took this as an opportunity to ask questions, ignoring the fuming ash blond—he wanted to go home already and he couldn't really do that without making sure Midoriya made it home safely first.

"You said you wanted to be a hero though, right Midoriya? Ribbit. So why didn't you go to a hero school?" Asui joined in as her large green eyes scanned the petite boy.

"Yeah! I wanna be a hero more than anything but...I thought that if I had then it would cause some people angry or just upset. Like the media and all that—"

"Media? What does the media have to do with you attending a hero school?" Yaoyorozu gazed down at the short boy as she quirked an eyebrow with both interest and confusion.

"Everyone else is usually fifteen or sixteen when they start training to become a hero. Though, even then people that age don't get that involved in hero stuff. Just the simple things, you know? The other stuff doesn't really start until you're practically adults when it comes to the serious hero work. And my case...well...I'm not sure how the media would feel if I started hero work at thirteen...."

A pause.

"WAIT YOU'RE THIRTEEN?"

Kaminari began to sulk, "You're two years younger yet you're still smarter than me. Why couldn't I be born a genius?"

"Ah! So that would mean you're still innocent and pure! Guys we have to protect this bea—" Hagakure was promptly cut off when Midoriya was pulled away from her. She looked up to see Bakugo dragging the greenette by his shirt collar.

"I need to get the little shit home so fuck off," Bakugo announced as he began to drag Deku away from his annoying ass classmates. He paused as he turned around and scowled, "Fuck face you coming?"

There was an audible groan before Shinso followed suit.

"Ah! Sorry guys! I hope I can see you—" Midoriya was swiftly whacked on the head by a certain ash blond.

"Quit talking to those dipshits, nerd! You talk once and then they're basically glued to you," Bakugo warned before letting go of the shirt collar and walking on normally—normal for Bakugo, that is. The greenette rubbed his head where he was hit as he gave a sheepish smile.

Shinso had caught up and looked to Midoriya. "Are you sure you're fine? Nasty McBlasty over here sure gave you a hard time," The lilac haired boy glared at the ash blond.

"Hah? What kind of nickname is that, fuckwipe?" Bakugo snarled as he turned to face the taller purple haired teen.

"What do you mean? I think it suits you well with your nasty attitude and your constant need to blast things up," Shinso countered with a roll of his eyes. "At least I don't hurt my friends—"

"Shinso that was an accident and you know it," Midoriya interrupted with a disapproving look sent towards both of them.

"You know I'm starting to regret telling you to follow. I should've just left your ass back with those extras," Bakugo scoffed.

~~(I should've just left you on that street corner where you were standing.~~   
~~But 'cha _diDn'T_. )~~

Shinso just sighed as he ignored the comment Bakugo had made. "I didn't know that Todoroki guy was such an asshole," he stated.

Midoriya whacked him on his arm. "Jeez you guys cuss too much first of all. Second of all, Shinso that's not nice. It's not like he hit me—"

"Like Bakugo did?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU SHITTY ASS LALALOOPSY DOLL!" Bakugo roared as he bared his teeth. Fortunately Midoriya was in the middle so the ash blond couldn't really do much or else the greenette would intervene. Unfortunately for Midoriya he had to listen to yelling right next to his ear.

It took a second before Bakugo began his next sentence, "Half and Half is the worst. Well aside from you, Insomniac." There was a grunt from Shinso. "He thinks he's all that but I'm clearly the best. I'm going to put him in his place the next time we have a training exercise. He'll practically be begging on his knees for me to stop when I'm done with his ass."

"Begging on his knees? I didn't know you were like that, Bakug—"

"One more comment like that and I swear I'll snap your neck."

"Uh— am I missing something here...?" The greenette asked, confused about the comment that Shinso had made. Though the purple haired teen quickly veered the conversation somewhere else, not wanting to explain the context of his previous statement.

* * *

"Ok thanks Kacchan! Thanks Shinso!" He waves the two goodbye as he walked into his apartment. The other two had said goodbye in their own little way: Shinso with an actual goodbye and Bakugo just saying 'Whatever, nerd'.

The greenette walked into his apartment with a loud sigh. After closing his door he had simply crumpled to the ground, the events of today too much to handle. His smile fell as he glanced at his book bag that had been dropped on the floor upon entering his home.

His hands fell on his face before falling on his chest, the burning sensation reminding him of the injury he still had.

He grunted as he lifted himself off the floor. He noticed his breathing was a bit off, similar to breathing in cold air on a winter day or like when he worked out. He brushed it off just thinking that it wasn't a big deal; he's dealt with worse in middle school.

He took his shoes off and allowed his socks to shuffle across the floorboards with his yellow book bag over his shoulder once again. He walked through the quite house and made his way to his room, paying no mind to the bright yellow and red hues that came from his All Might merch. Of course, there was blue as well but it wasn’t as bright.

After setting his stuff down and making sure the explosion from earlier didn’t leave a mark, he went to grab his weights and other things necessary for training. He figured that he would try to keep his mind off of the thing that had been nagging at him ever since he had gotten home.

_“You can be heroic but fail as a hero, you know.”_

But he wouldn’t fail. He _couldn’t_ fail. He would make sure to be the best hero out there. For himself to accomplish his dreams and also for his mother so she won’t have to work so hard.

_“If you don't have the strength to become one then you'll just end up getting hurt.”_

But he had a quirk now, a _strong_ one. At least, it was strong in his eyes. Any quirk can be strong if you try hard enough to make it strong. The only reason he got hurt today is because he couldn’t use his quirk. Not in public. Well his quirk probably wasn’t best for that situation anyways, right? Or...maybe he was just weak. If he had been stronger— faster even— then he wouldn’t have gotten injured.

_“If you don't have the power to compensate then you can't be a hero.”_

_**“You can’t be a hero.”** _

That had hit him the hardest, those words being so familiar to him just hurt so damn much. He was constantly told that before and other things similar to that. Though, that was before he had his quirk; he was sure that everything started looking up since he has one now. He can be a hero....is what he thought.

Now, even with a quirk, people still believe that he can’t be a hero. It stung, it really did. Even with someone he barely knew those words still cut deep.

A good time later he had huffed as the sweat that built up on his face slowly fell down his face. He had been working out, trying to rid the thoughts that threatened to eat him alive. He didn’t like these thoughts, these feelings. Sometimes he wished they’d all just disappear.

Working out helped a little bit in clearing his thoughts, albeit not much. His legs felt like jello as he walked to the kitchen to grab some water. He pushed through the weird feeling as he had the water and washed the cup out afterwards. He rubbed his face and noticed the makeup smear onto the back of his hand; he ignored it as he trudged back to his room and collapsed on his bed.

He made a mental note to do his homework after he took a quick nap. He looked to his dresser and smirked at the small picture of him and Bakugo as kids. That was the last thing he saw before closing his eyes and falling asleep.


	16. Overreacting a 𝘛𝘪𝘯𝘺 Bit

_Buzz......Buzzz....Buzzzz._

"Mmm..." Midoriya hummed in frustration as his eyebrows furrowed. He kept his eyes closed and blindly felt around for his phone, his mind only barely registering that only his phone would make such a noise.

His hand was finally placed on the familiar object as he clutched it, pulling it up slowly so he could see the time and, hopefully, be able to hit the snooze button. He blinked a couple of times as his vision slowly came into focus after facing the harsh light that was now illuminating his face. He paused as he noticed the messages he received. Why was he getting messages so early in the morning....?

And that's when he realized it wasn't morning.

The realization dawned on him as he fell out of his bed, about to get up and hastily make his way to school. Though, that thought was short lived when he felt his muscles ache; his body wasn't in favor of moving at the moment.

He let a groan escape his lips as he slowly slid up off the floor, collapsing on his bed once more with a small huff. He was already late, he figured. No wonder why the room seemed brighter than usual. Though, he was confused about why his alarm hadn't gone off. His emerald eyes scanned the room before he found an out of place piece of paper sitting atop his nightstand. Curious, he reached over—much to his body's protest—and took the paper in his hands, quickly noticing the neat handwriting as his mother's.

_Izuku,_

_I'm sure you're well aware that you're alarm didn't go off. You need to start taking care of yourself! I walk into your room to find you passed out on your bed with your homework scrambled everywhere along with your weights._

_I called the school to inform them you were going to be absent so don't try going! Food is in the fridge and I'll see you later!_

_-mom ❤️_

The greenette smiled a little bit at the note. It was nice to know he had a mom that cared enough to let him skip a day and rest. He was sore from doing training exercises yesterday; he wanted to be stronger and one day prove to Todoroki that he himself could be a hero despite his size. As far as Midoriya knows, some of class 1-A suspect he's quirkless or that he has a quirk unfit for a hero. Todoroki is most likely fond of the quirkless speculation. That might explain his harsh words. Either that or he just has something against Midoriya.

He sighed as he remembered waking up from his nap yesterday; it was late but he still had homework to do. He decided to slip a little training in there as well.

Come to think of it, that's probably why he only woke up now, at 12:04 in the afternoon.

He remembered the messages that he was sent and retrieved his phone to read them—you know, without being overwhelmed with the need to sleep. Turns out, the buzzing was due to text messages he had received....all from Yuichi.

_'Do you remember if we have a test today or tomorrow?'  
Sent 6:49_

_'Are you late? Wake up, sleepyhead!'  
Sent 7:50_

_'Unless you're sick? But you said that when you would be that you would still respond. Unless I misremembered...?'  
Sent 8:00_

_'No wait... I clearly remember you saying that you would tell me when you were sick so I can collect your absent work. Not that I haven't already started anyways....'  
Sent 8:01_

_'Midoriya. Did the UA staff kidnap you again or something? (Ok, I know it was because of the news reporters but still)'  
Sent 9:28_

_'I swear you better be alive-'  
'Ok that was too much, but if you're injured or something I will not hesitate to wrap you in bubble wrap and keep you in your room.'  
Sent 10:41_

_'NOooOoOO we DID have a test! A MATH TEST!!! Midoriya the ONE day you choose not to be here is the day my grade is going to plummet. We could've studied before math class'  
Sent 11:23_

_'If murder was legal, I would kill you because you aren't answering.'  
'And of COURSE you don't answer my phone call'  
'Please tell me you're okay'  
'Midoriya I might just skip lunch, break into your house, and proceed to wrap you in blankets and bubble wrap.'  
'If you aren't home when I go to your house, I'm telling your UA friends you went missing. Shinso mentioned that they might possibly strangle or fight anyone who hurt you.'  
'Or something like that.'  
'Ms. Haru called me out last hour and I am not happy about it.'  
'I'm also not happy about the fact that YOU AREN'T ANSWERING'  
Sent 12:05_

Well, it seems as though Yuichi's his usual self. Midoriya found it kind of funny that the blue haired boy tended to be more expressive when texting. Yuichi had a bit of a sense of humor and was very aggressive in a friend kind of way. He tended to stutter and stumble but he managed to get his point across.

In the past two or three weeks that Midoriya has gotten to know Yuichi, he found that the blue haired boy wasn't all that shy once you got to know him. He also tended to speak out more; maybe having a friend gave him a bit of confidence?

_'If you aren't dead then you're gonna be for making me think so.'  
Sent 12:06_

Ok yeah, he did have more confidence.

_'Sorry, I slept in cause my alarm didn't go off.'  
Read 12:06_

Well he isn't very prepared but Midoriya guesses it was his time; as soon as he'd sent the message three bubbles appeared before his phone started ringing.

_ Incoming call from 🔷Chi🔷 _

**Accept** Decline

As much as he didn't want to answer it—mainly because he knew he would get scolded or something along those lines— he picked up the phone. Fortunately for Yuichi—and unfortunately for Midoriya— he was at lunch so the teachers wouldn't mention anything about the use of cell phones.

_*Chi can mean various things based on how it's translated such as wisdom, intellect, good, fine, flower, or thousand_

* * *

"Thanks for almost giving me a heart attack," Yuichi greeted Midoriya after school. The blue haired boy was just about ready to invite himself in when he paused, "Is your mom home?"

The greenette simply shook his head as he opened the door to his apartment more, an obvious sign that he was inviting Yuichi inside. "Nope. She's never home when your here. Maybe you guys can meet sometime," the greenette stated as he shut the door behind his friend.

"Ok, cool. I didn't want to think I'm rude or something."

"You day that as if you aren't already," Midoriya smirked as his Yuichi slipped his shoes off.

"There's this thing called sarcasm. I thought you would know about it being how smart you are," Yuichi retorted as his socks touched the floor, his shoes removed.

The blue haired boy pulled his bag in front of him and began to shuffle through it, searching for something. "I didn't have time to go to the store and get bubble wrap-" his sapphire eyes flickered up for a second, a bit of playfulness in those blue orbs. "-but I managed to take notes for you—even though you probably don't need them— and I got you the assignments we went over today," he finished as he held out a small folder filled with papers.

Midoriya smiled in return, thanking his friend for remembering. Thankfully the greenette had remembered to cover his freckles before Yuichi came. Though...he seemed to forget about the ones that _weren't_ on his face; those were usually covered by his blazer and school pants.

There seemed to be something that changed in Yuichi's eyes when he noticed. The taller boy had focused on the freckled arms, uncovered due to the t-shirt Midoriya had been wearing.

The blue haired teen didn't move forwards to grab his friend's arm. Instead, he looked up to meet the shorter boy's eyes. "You...you have freckles..." it was more of a statement that he wanted to confirm as opposed to a question.

There was a pause as Yuichi drew his eyes away, trying to form his thoughts into sentences. "Well...they aren't a bad thing but...you don't have any on your face," Yuichi pointed out, searching for an answer from his friend. Did Midoriya not trust him with this?

"I..." Midoriya hesitated, feeling like he was being judged by his friend. Did he hate the freckles just like everyone else? Maybe Midoriya should alter his appearance more; he had gotten new glasses with black frames and he already had the makeup concealing his freckles. What else could he possibly do to make people actually think he looked the slightest bit appealing?

The greenette swallowed the lump in his throat as he urged himself to speak up. "I...know a lot about makeup..." he said slowly, "I showed you on the first day we met when I concealed my bruise so easily. I...use makeup to cover up my freckles."

Yuichi let out a small 'oh' and began to formulate his next question. "Why do you do it?" He decided to ask. Though, after a second of thinking of his question, he wanted to take it back, regretting how his curiosity sometimes got the best of him. That could've been a _really_ personal question that he had just spat out there.

Before he could reply, Midoriya cut in, "People don't like them. I- sometimes I think my mom doesn't like them, either. That they remind her of my father that left us to work overseas...." His voice was soft and quiet, fearing that if he had spoken up louder, his voice would crack and the tears would begin to pour.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply, looking to recollect himself and allow himself to focus on what was happening now; he didn't like to dwell on his past.

Yuichi was quick to notice the sadness and the way that Midoriya had looked as if he was very close to his breaking point. The taller boy knew what that felt like.

To be so damn close to your breaking point but unable to cry and let everything out.

The blue haired boy had not prodded any further as he drew the conversation back to the math test that he had probably failed. He mentioned that it would've been completely fine if he had a quick review session with Midoriya beforehand.

The greenette let out a chuckle at that as he let out a small apology, a sly smile making its way onto his face as he looked up. "To be fair, you had time to study at home. Plus, it's not my fault you forgot the test was today," he teased.

"To be fair, I'm not a genius like you are. Plus, it's not _my_ fault I was too distracted worrying about my friend and how much bubble wrap cost," Yuichi fired back.

The two felt content with each other's company. Just to have a friend to laugh and talk with, a friend to hang out with and do stupid stuff without parental vision. It all felt like a dream to Yuichi. Not being judged or ridiculed and not being treated like some kind of animal just because he didn't have a quirk that others had possessed, that's why being friends with Midoriya was so fun. Which is why he didn't really want to meet the others at UA; not all people will be as accepting as the greenette and he _knows that_.

How could he not know something like that when his own family hated him for something he couldn't control, for being quirkless.

He wouldn't let Midoriya know; he feared that he would break down and begin to pour out his life story. People didn't listen to him anyways so there was really no point. He knows that his friend would listen and give reassurance but there's always those thoughts nagging at his mind.

Those thoughts in which Yuichi contemplated killing himself because...why bother with living through hell the rest of his life? He felt like there was no way out of the hellhole he lived in but something kept him going.

And he figured that his new friend Izuku Midoriya was the reason for him to keep going.


	17. That’s What Friends Are For

Midoriya noticed that he hadn't seen Class 1-A for a while, but he didn't bother to say anything; he knew about the upcoming sports festival. He figured that the students were just busy training or studying to hang out with him. Even Shinso and Bakugo would only pop up once or twice a week.

The greenette's thoughts on the matter slowly disappeared when he looked back down at his paper, sighing as he noticed the doodles he made absentmindedly during the math lesson. It was obvious that he wasn't paying attention; the teacher wanted to call him out for paying attention but she would prefer if she didn't make a fool of himself since he had heard what the other math teacher had discussed with him.

Midoriya sighed as he moved his pencil to make more doodles. He had already finished the homework that was written on the board; he was just waiting for the lesson to be over so he could turn it in. He didn't understand why they were taking so long on this. It was so easy! He could practically do number 24 in his head right now:

_24\. Evaluate the function at each specified value of the independent variable and simplify.  
F(x) = x² + 1  
a.) f(2)  
b.) f(-4)  
c.) f(t²)  
d.) f(t + 1)  
(I'm not typing out all the answers but if you want them, I'll work them out lmao)_

He thought they would be doing more by now; he was moved to a different math class, one at a higher level than the one that he was in. That meant Yuichi wasn't in his math class, which sucked. Midoriya scanned his paper and double checked for any wrong answers, not finding any.

After class, Midoriya went to the hallway and gazed through the crowd, trying to find a familiar tall blue haired boy. He was stopped and shoved up against a wall roughly; next thing he knew he had hands on either side of his face and a warm breath lingering on his neck.

"Hey beautiful~" the male purred out as he set his mocha brown eyes on the smaller greenette. "Where have you been? I would surely remember a pretty face like yours in that boring math class," the taller male leaned in more as he spoke. He was so close that Midoriya could feel his new glasses fogging up.

The smaller boy placed his arms against the other's chest, trying to nudge him away to show he was not interested. When the guy didn't budge, Midoriya's confused look had morphed into one of slight frustration.

"I'm sorry you probably have the wrong person. You're in my space so could you please—"

"No I have the right person. I know an angel when I see one," the guy interrupted.

The greenette growled under his breath and, in response, he pretended to look somewhere else and act as if he noticed something that shocked him. The taller teen warily looked behind him, only for the curly haired teen to grab both arms and kick the guy in the stomach, knocking him back.

The guy curled up on the ground, holding his stomach as he groaned. Midoriya made sure not to use that much force when kicking but obviously this guy hadn't been in a fight before.

"Would an angel do that?" Midoriya cheekily replied. He was confused as to why this guy was being so flirtatious with him, but he simply brushed it off.

The rest of the people in the hallway just gaped at the smaller boy, mentally noting that the encounter with the bully that one time at lunch was most definitely _not_ luck.

The greenette had left the scene shortly afterwards, seeking out his friend while he still had time in between classes.

* * *

“You did _WHAT_?”

Midoriya looked up from where his eyes were focused on the sidewalk before, confusion seeping into his emerald orbs as he looked up at his taller friend. He didn’t understand what the big deal was about kicking a guy because he was in his personal bubble. Why was Yuichi so worked up about that he had just told him?

He figured maybe it was just Yuichi overthinking it, like he tended to do. Though, he noticed the panicked look swimming in those sapphire eyes. “That guy? The one that you kicked in the stomach? Yeah, he’s bad. Like _bad bad_. He’s not just some delinquent that doesn’t do their homework or sometimes skips class...” Yuichi’s voice hushed to a whisper even if they were outside of school grounds at this point, “I heard some people saying that he’s involved in a gang.”

Midoriya couldn’t help but to burst out laughing at that. Sure, the matter was serious but, “Really? The guy didn’t even seem to know how to fight! One small kick had him on the floor!” Two hands were placed on his shoulders as he was forced to face the taller teen.

“I’m not kidding! You probably just caught him off guard,” Yuichi reasoned, “This could be serious!”

Midoriya just chalked it up to Yuichi overthinking everything and also being way too gullible for his own good. The greenette had eventually managed to change the subject, complaining about how his new math class seemed to be easy as well.

Yuichi pouted at that, expressing his own struggles in his current math class, with the addition of his English class as well. “I just don’t get why we need to learn all the grammar and stuff! It’s so difficult...”

 _“You’re having trouble with English?”_ Midoriya spoke, catching the other boy off guard.

“What? I didn’t understand any of that, how did you—”

_“Oh so you are. I could probably teach you. I only know because.... nevermind. Actually you can’t understand me so—”_

“No no! First of all, way too fast for me to even comprehend any of that. Second of all, what. The. Hell. Why—” Yuichi paused when he heard something in the distance. He slowed down his pace while Midoriya stopped completely.

The greenette looked over to see something weird near the alleyway. Clearly not the smartest choice, but Midoriya’s curiosity got the better of him: he walked near the alley to see a small kitten. He went to pick it up until he heard a set of hushed whispers. Yuichi watched but didn’t hear the noise further down the alleyway.

Midoriya craned his head and looked down the alleyway, trying to make something out until the kitten let out a loud meow. The greenette froze when the whispering stopped. Something churned in his stomach when the alleyway was eerily quiet compared to before.

His emerald eyes cautiously shifted over to meet his friend’s eyes. “Go...” was all that he muttered as he slowly stood up.

“What do you—” Yuichi was stopped when he was roughly pushed up against a brick wall, similar to the predicament Midoriya was in besides the knife near the back of his throat. The blue haired teen wanted to see what happened to Midoriya, but it seems as though he couldn’t with his face smushed up against the wall, his back facing the rest of the alley.

Midoriya, on the other hand, was being held back by two people on either side of him, an additional person standing right in front of him.

The person standing in front of the greenette seemed to be cocky, giving off a smug smirk as his eyes scanned the petite boy. Emerald eyes bore holes into the brown haired male—the same guy from earlier.

“So do you work for someone else or did you miss me? We’re you lying when you said you didn’t want to be my angel?” The guy tried to cup the other boy’s face when the curly haired teen jerked his head away.

A by-passer had noticed the commotion and concealed themself in the shadows, calling emergency services and explaining the situation in a hushed voice. Midoriya took note, thinking that all he really needed to do was buy some time for both himself and Yuichi.

Though he also wanted to get straight to the point; he had to know more in order to form a proper conversation.

“Wh- what,” he cleared his throat to hide his nervousness and his stutter. “What do you mean _‘work for someone else’_?”

The other laughed and began to explain the little predicament Midoriya had found himself and his friend in. Turns out, Yuichi was right about the whole gang thing.

“What does any of that have to do with either of us? Surely you would know things about us, including basic information. Knowing that, you wouldn’t need us considering...our abilities,” Midoriya gritted out, keeping up his glare directed towards the older brown eyed male.

Those brown eyes seemed to gleam with interest when the greenette had pointed it out. “Oh I’m well aware of what _he’s_ capable of,” the male had chuckled as he threw a thumb back at a very clearly panicked Yuichi.

He lowered his hand and smirked at the teen with glasses, “But I’m not too sure about _you_. You always seem to be holding back, keeping your abilities on the low, showing yourself off as some one less than you are. Or maybe it’s just an act. Though, even if it is an act...” The male had stepped closer and roughly grabbed the smaller teen’s face, making him look directly into those mocha brown orbs. “...I wouldn’t mind having a little angel as company,” he purred out.

Midoriya’s facade cracked slightly, letting out a small whimper when his face was pulled so roughly and the guy seemed to inch closer, almost closing the distance between them. The brown haired guy paused before sliding his free hand down to the smaller teen’s waist.

Receiving no signs of protest or fighting back, the guy smirked, “Seems as though it was all just a tough guy act, hm? What are you gonna do now, angel? There are no teachers or anyone to protect you. Not even your useless quirkless friend over there can help you. You can’t even protect yourself, either. You’re just quirkless, weak, pathetic, and defenseless. But with me? You won’t need to worry about that anymore.”

Midoriya’s panic spiked up when the hand on his waist was close to moving elsewhere, but fury soon made its way into his system. Just hearing those degrading words seemed to spark something in him.

The greenette tilted his head upwards quickly, making the brunette in front of him loose grip of his face. “Quirkless...” he began as he lifted his legs up, using the support of the guys on either side of him as he recoiled his legs. He pushed his legs out with more force than last time, landing a painfully hard hit to the brown haired male’s jaw. “...does not mean weak.”

The guy stumbled to the ground. “Quirkless...” Midoriya grunted as he quickly turned to the other two, kicking one where the sun don’t shine. “...does not mean pathetic.” He faced the other guy and swiftly elbowed him once the first one lost their grip.

The curly haired teen rushed forwards pulled the arm that was holding the knife back, noticing that the knife wasn’t as close as it was before; the guy was most likely getting bored just holding the knife and had let his guard down. The greenette kneed the guy in the back so he would fall to the floor, making sure that the knife was out of the way and wouldn’t cut anyone. “And quirkless sure as hell does not mean defenseless.”

Midoriya pointed a knife at the two lackeys that were holding him from before, “If you want the alley to be the last place you ever see then be my guest. If not, then you’d better stay put.”

The two were frozen in both fear and shock, noting that the leader of their little ‘gang’ was knocked unconscious by this seemingly innocent boy.

Yuichi fell to the ground as he tried to recollect his thoughts, eyes wide open in pure horror because of what he had just been involved in.

“Yuichi...” a soft voice called out. His sapphire eyes shifted up to see Midoriya giving a reassuring smile, albeit a very shaky smile, it was comforting nonetheless. “It’s okay, I’ll—” he choked out, trying to keep his voice steady as he began his next sentence. “I’ve got your back and you have mine, right? That’s what friends are for,” he urged with a smile, though Yuichi could see the sadness in his eyes.

“Right,” was all that the blue haired teen could muster out before his voice was drowned by the sound of sirens and a couple of voices.


	18. I Just Want to Talk

Midoriya couldn't get the sound of the sirens out of his head.

Turns out the little 'gang' that Midoriya had taken down singlehandedly in that alleyway all attended his school as third years. They were all expelled and sent somewhere—though Midoriya doesn't know where, he has a strong feeling it was jail.

Though him and Yuichi managed to get out just fine, he was still scared from the experience. They both could've... _died_.

Midoriya never told his mother or anyone about the experience; him and Yuichi made a silent agreement not to spread the word more than necessary. They seemed to appreciate each other more after that experience, though. Their friendship grew stronger and the blue haired boy seemed to be smiling more compared to his jittery and closed off self at school.

Two weeks had passed by since then, this week being the beginning of the sports festival after almost two months in school. The greenette had liked listening to ways that Shinso had trained for the Sports Festival and even surprised Midoriya with a surprise ticket—since Yuichi could unfortunately not attend— to the festival. The emerald eyed boy accepted the ticket, going on a fanboy-fueled tangent about heroes and the hero course students.

Midoriya noticed how different Bakugo was compared to middle school; the ash blond didn't yell at him—at least not that much, it's Bakugo after all. There was no hitting or anything of that sort, thankfully. Though, if the greenette was being honest, he noticed that Bakugo just acts like a jerk on the outside so he doesn't have to feel vulnerable with his underlying soft side coming out. He just hides it with anger, Midoriya believed.

Midoriya still had sleepovers with Shinso, causing him to get less sleep than usual when he heard the sound of a cat meowing from Shinso's phone. Not to mention how bright the lavender haired boy's phone was. Midoriya was honestly wondering if the purple haired teen even knew how to turn down the brightness or switch to dark mode.

And Yuichi...well Midoriya had been _trying_ to get the blue haired boy to meet his mom and potentially have a sleepover, but the sapphire eyed boy always seemed to be busy. Though, the two had a fun time when picking each other's outfits out at the mall. Least to say, Yuichi shouldn't wear orange.....he looked like a tide-pod with his blue hair, orange shirt, and white pants that Midoriya had made him change into.

As of now, Midoriya was nervously making his way to the park. Bakugo had told him it was because the Bakusquad (plus Jiro and Shinso) had begged him to invite 'the adorable broccoli boy' with them to hang out. Of course Bakugo didn't use that phrasing; his invite was more like, "Hey nerd, me and the shitheads are gonna hang around the park at 5. Apparently they wanted more than one braincell to share between the four of them so they're using you as their sacrifice. If you wanna come, it's....the park we played at as kids." With that, he had walked away.

Midoriya questioned if the 'Bakusquad' was really just that dumb or if Bakugo was just being Bakugo but he wanted the four to have the benefit of the doubt. The greenette had only found out that Shinso and Jiro were coming when the purple eyed boy had mentioned it briefly when walking home with the greenette.

"Wanna go take a shopping cart down the hill?" Was the first question he had heard when approaching the group.

Okayyyy...maybe Bakugo wasn't exaggerating this time.

The greenette's eyes landed on the pink skinned girl. He already knew Ashido, Sero, Kaminari, and Kirishima from previous encounters so the purple haired girl must be Jiro since he already knows Shinso as well. Though he was familiar with the four members of the Bakusquad, he had yet to see how intelligent, or unintelligent, they were.

"Don't you remember when Kaminari fell out of his own shopping cart _and_ got ran over with it, too?" Sero questioned Ashido.

"I don't understand how that happened if I was in the cart. But I had to get out. It was going too fast, dude. What I actually wanna know is why those tire marks were so damn dark," the blond was whacked on the head after his last word, whining shortly after as he looked over to the pink haired girl.

"No cussing in front of the child!" Ashido exclaimed.

Midoriya looked around at the almost empty part of the part before raising an eyebrow at the other two. "But there aren't any kids here....?" The others had turned to him and Shinso smirked as he placed an arm on the shorter boy's shoulder.

"You're the youngest. You're the child she's talking about," the lavander haired boy's hand was removed as Midoriya shot him an angry look. Which, didn't look all that threatening; it was actually cute how the boy's cheeks puffed out.

"Fourteen is not a child. Four **teen**. Teen as in _teenager_ ," Midoriya expressed before some of the others started bursting out laughing. Giving up, the curly haired teen turned to the silent purple haired girl who was fiddling with...the headphones attached to her ears...? Midoriya shook it off and gave her a small, nervous smile, "I'm Izuku Midoriya. Who may you be?"

The girl seemed to scan Midoriya over for a second before reaching out for the hand he had extended, shaking it lightly. "Kyouka Jiro. I actually have some common sense unlike those guys," she greeted with a small smile of her own. She paused before asking, "What do you wanna do?"

* * *

"LITERALLY— DEKU GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!"

Bakugo was forced to whisper shout as he tugged the greenette into the alley by the wrist, watching as some of their friends had passed by with nerf guns in their hands. Ruby red eyes scanned the area as he mumbled under his breath, "God you suck at these games."

Midoriya looked up and stared to cry, tears falling down his face as he sniffled, "Kacchan that's so mean..."

The ash blond looked over in alarm and sat the greenette in front of him, appearing confused before he hesitantly pulled the smaller boy into a hug while mumbling a sorry.

The blond had cradled the boy's head so it was sitting on his shoulder until he felt something hit the side of his head. Shortly after, he heard giggling next to his ear.

"Gotcha Kacchan," the greenette teased.

Bakugo pulled away quickly and looked shocked until that was quickly replaced with anger, "You were a fucking murderer...AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME? I THOUGHT YOU WERE INNOCENT!" Bakugo glanced around the nerf bullet on the ground and the mini gun that Midoriya had presumably used to shoot him.

"Guess you're dead now, Kacchan," the greenette smirked with a singsong voice, pulling up his sleeve to wipe away the tears on his face.

The anger in those crimson eyed faded a minute later, glancing back into Midoriya's...eyes? No, it was his face. But what was wrong with his—

The ash blond had unintentionally reached out and rubbed a finger over the smaller boy's cheeks, moving the glasses the boy had worn out of the way a little bit. He found freckles there, realizing how much he had missed them when he had finally been able to see them after so long. They were still slightly covered by smudged makeup but they were still there.

"I missed them..." he mumbled under his breath. Thankfully for Bakugo's pride, Midoriya couldn't hear the hushed voice. Although not knowing what he said made Midoriya's nerves spiked up as he pulled away from the other boy's touch rather quickly, jerking away and standing up.

"I have to go home," the greenette spoke as he ran off, abandoning the ash blond and his 'weapon for murder'.

Bakugo sat their with a distant look on his face, remembering those times in middle school when he heard his lackeys making fun of the greenette's appearance. Oh if only Bakugo could go back into time and murder his past self.

Or, at least, beat the shit out of his past self.

Bakugo felt lonely in the alley, deciding to stand up and go over to where the 'dead' people were supposed to go.

He scrolled through his phone until the game was eventually over, Shinso explaining that the group had run after Midoriya to make it seem like he was being chased. Though, the purple haired only pitched the idea and the Bakusquad had executed it, not knowing that Shinso was the other murderer, who had 'killed' them later.

Midoriya was supposed to try to lure Bakugo out or, if he was 'murdered', then they would know that Bakugo was the killer. They had wanted to lure him out so they could confirm that he was innocent or not.

"Hey where did Midoriya go?" Kirishima finally asked after the explanation. He looked around, not finding the cute greenette anywhere in sight.

"He said he had to go home..." Bakugo sighed. He was staring at his messages, noticing the few messages he sent the greenette were left on read.

"Damn I wanted to talk to him more. Did you see how his eyes lit up when we were playing? Too cute, man," Kaminari sighed, getting lost in a gaydream.

Bakugo just scoffed and thought about what he should do about Midoriya. Maybe the ash blond could talk to him about what happened after they got out of school tomorrow? It was only Monday, after all.

* * *

  
Yet, somehow, Midoriya seemed to be able to easily avoid Bakugo due to both of their after school activities.

The ash blond always seemed to be busy training for the Sports Festival on Friday, in which it was now Wednesday, and Midoriya just seemed to be 'busy' whenever Bakugo tried to talk or even catch his attention. And in all honesty, it was making Bakugo _pissed_.

He was contemplating on whether he should visit the Midoriya residence or not when he was at lunch. It wasn't long before he decided that he would make sure to have time to visit the house.

Which is how he ended up standing outside of the apartment at 9:00 at night.

Thankfully, there was a fire escape that led to the doors on each floor. All Bakugo had to do was remember which one of the damn doors led to the greenette's apartment.

He scaled the stairs and ended up on the third floor, at least he remembered that much from the last time he had come here. He looked and walked down the flooring and peeped through the windows. He stumbled back and accidentally fell when a cat just appeared in one of the windows out of nowhere.

There was a moment before he heard a click and a door opening. He turned and looked up to see a familiar greenette, except without the glasses for once. They both looked at each other before Bakugo stood up and started to explain himself.

"You weren't answering and I wanted to talk," he hesitantly explained. "I just— can I come inside?"

Midoriya blinked before nodding, gesturing towards the open door without saying a word. The door had led to the kitchen, which Bakugo walked into as he entered the apartment. His ruby red eyes landed on a note on the counter from Inko saying that she was at work. That was probably there since after school, Bakugo assumed.

The greenette walked past him and led him to his room, which Bakugo had to stop himself from grinning because of the stupid All Might filled room.

The curly haired teen gestured to the bed as he walked over to the swirly chair near the desk, which Bakugo took note that there were a bunch of papers scattered across it. _He was probably studying_ , Bakugo thought. Though, he also noticed that Midoriya was refusing to make eye contact with the ash blond.

There was a moment before Bakugo blurt out the point he wanted to get across, "You're freckles are fucking great."

Well that's not how the conversation was supposed to start.


	19. We Meet Again...?

Bakugo looked back on the conversation that night and kind of regretted it.

He wanted to get his point across, sure, but he just said some really stupid things and all it seemed to do was make Midoriya uncomfortable. And to add onto that, the atmosphere around them seemed very uncomfortable at the time so neither of them had spoken to each other.

Bakugo thought that things would be better if he gave it some time. It's not like they could talk much anyways since he was supposed to be training for the Sports Festival, so he decided to talk to him after all of that was over and done with. Even though Midoriya had gone to the Sports Festival, Bakugo didn't talk to him since it was so awkward between them.

But now it had been almost two years since the Sports Festival. Almost two years since he's last seen Midoriya as well.

Bakugo had been more irritable, the class had noticed, after the Sports Festival of their first year. Even now in their third year the ash blond still had a short fuse.

Bakugo just didn't understand.

How could Midoriya just be in his life for less than two months and then practically disappear out of thin air again? Obviously he had visited the greenette's apartment but he received no answer. He had asked his mom about it but all she heard from Inko was that they were going to take a 'little' vacation.

Bakugo wondered what's kind of vacation lasted two years and also briefly wondered if he could go on one. He desperately needed a break of the idiots of his so-called 'Bakusquad'. Somehow, Headphones had been added to their squad because Acid Freak wanted another girl in the squad.

The Sports Festival for their third year was quickly approaching and, as much as he hated it, he knew that the first years would probably get all the spotlight. That wouldn't stop Bakugo from grabbing everyone's attention with his fucking awesome quirk, though. He knew that those first year extras probably wouldn't have a quirk good enough to match his, so everyone would probably end up watching the third years anyways.

Bakugo had his mind and body ready, already set to ass kicking mode as he grabbed his gym uniform. He was ready to take the number one spot and show the world what he's made of, not to mention how much stronger he's gotten.

At least, he did until an alarm had sounded.

There was an announcement that everyone had to evacuate; apparently there was a fire. But Bakugo wasn't allowing a measly fire ruin his time to shine. He had a hero license anyways, so he could use his quirk if necessary.

With that in mind, he had gone to see if anyone was stupid or slow enough to still be stuck in the arena or seating area. Running in the halls, Bakugo noticed a blue light and some commotion in one of them.

There was what sounded like a low voice as Bakugo had gotten closer. He was ready to turn the corner until he had heard a higher pitched voice start to shout something.

"No! I don't care if I have to fight you or anyone else in order to do this! I'm tired of you trying to brainwash me and make me play your sick game! I still wanna be a hero despite what happened and nothing is gonna change that!"

There was a choked sob, "I bet you were the ones that did that to him, right? To make me feel like the world was against me so I could be easier to manipulate and molded into your perfect little toy."

"Guess your smarter than we gave you credit for. That's okay. If you won't play nice then I won't either," a deeper voice had spoke when Bakugo was close enough to listen from around the corner. That was one thing that he had gotten better at over his experience in UA; he learned to gather evidence and analyze the situation instead of barging in. He knew it was something that a familiar green haired teen would do so he decided to implement that into his own strategy.

He only intervened when he heard a pained scream, presumably from the one who sounded like they were crying; the scream wasn't as low as the other guy's voice.

His movements had obviously caught both people's attention, but the one who got attacked was in the shadows with Bakugo unable to see him. Standing in front of the injured person, however, was a familiar villain.

"What are you doing here you Charred Emo Punk?" Bakugo growled with a familiar crackle of explosions in his palms.

"Oh it's the Angry Pomeranian, Ground Zero. I would've thought everyone would be gone by now but apparently they aren't as stupid as you," the black haired villain gave a look before cocking his head to the side. "I'll do you a favor and tell you that the smart thing to do here is to get out before I show you out," a familiar blue flame had flickered in his hand.

"What the fuck do you want? Don't you have anything better to do than mess with people?"

"Well it's kind of fun to kill the little pests instead but I'm only here for one person. It won't be any inconvenience to you, it's just a lousy first year that I'm here for," Dabi let a wicked smirk appear across his face, "But I really wouldn't mind if I could cross you off my kill list now than later. This way you won't be an issue later down the road."

A blue flame had burst down and towards Bakugo as he used an explosion to escape it. The ash blond only briefly looked past Dabi to see a small pool of blood spreading out across the cold floor of the hallway. Even though Bakugo didn't pay attention to the first years, he knew that being in a situation like that would be rather scary to them.

Over the commotion, he couldn't hear the small footsteps padding away and down the rest of the dark hallway. "Seems like the little guy escaped. Guess someone else will get him for me, then," Dabi sighed while he turned to fight the ash blond.

"You really think those weak ass flames are gonna do anything? Half and Half can probably do more than that and he just got a hold of his blue flames!" Bakugo snarled as he flicked his sweat towards a spot near Dabi's foot on the ground. He landed behind him, where the first year _should've_ been. He concentrated and used his AP shot to aim at the spot he had previously coated with sweat. The explosion had triggered another one right under Dabi and the flame user had to put out the blue flames, otherwise he would've collapsed into them.

Apparently all of the commotion got the pro hero's attention as they found the hallway the two were in. Dabi growled to himself before glaring at Bakugo, "Guess that's my cue to leave." The villain had mumbled something and a familiar purple portal had appeared to take the villain away. Bakugo always hated that about the league; whenever things had gone south for them, they always scrambled and escaped like the weak idiots they are.

Bakugo let the anger sit for a while before he had turned around to look further down the hallway. He walked down while crackling little explosions in his palm for light. "Where'd the little fucker go..?" He mumbled under his breath as he scanned the area.

* * *

"Did your explosions make you deaf? Did you really not hear the announcement, 'Evacuate the stadium and leave through the nearest exit'?"

Bakugo glared off to the side while Aizawa scolded him the next day at school. Apparently they would have to reschedule the Sports Festival. Though, Bakugo had heard that the first year he had mentioned had gotten out alright. The ash blond didn't get a name but he knew it wasn't a big deal.

Aizawa had given up on lecturing Bakugo and looked towards the rest of the class. "As you know there was a fire, but you must not know the reason for the fire. Apparently the League is back from hiding and they seem to be targeting our students again. We already have dorms implemented but the League seems to be targeting a specific student rather than all of them," he paused to let the class process the information.

No one had said anything so he continued, "This particular student is a rather capable first year, but that doesn't mean that they would be able to handle the League as well as you guys could. With that being said..." Aizawa had turned towards the door while saying 'come in'. The black haired male had removed himself from the podium and went over to his yellow sleeping bag, "He'll be moving into the third year dorms since you guys are practically almost pros. Spend the rest of the hour to get to know him. Though I'm sure most of you will recognize him anyways."

Their teacher was out within seconds but the class had noticed that no one had opened the door yet. Aoyama, being the person he is, had waltzed over to the door to try and coax the first year into the room. He stopped when noticing the boy's right arm was in a cast and the other was wrapped up.

That would explain why he couldn't open the door.

Though, that probably didn't matter since he could've easily pushed the door open with his back. It was most likely from being shy, Aoyama assumed.

He began to greet and I introduce himself to the fidgety first year. Aoyama couldn't see his face that well but the curly green hair seemed familiar. He was quite short, but that was probably because he was a first year. Aoyama has grown just like everyone else, after all, so the boy was probably going to do so as well. The boy had curly hair that hid his face and didn't bother to look up. He also seemed to have tinted glasses as well.

It wasn't long before someone had called out to Aoyama.

The blond boy had turned to the smaller boy and asked if he could join them inside. There was a small nod from the boy and he shuffled in behind Aoyama. The younger boy had noticed everyone else's silence and kept his gaze glued to the floor. He didn't look up until he heard a mix of nicknames and his actual name coming out a few people's mouths.

The boy had looked up, revealing his wide, innocent eyes that were only slightly visible under the tinted glasses. He had that familiar curly green hair that was almost unforgettable.

The boy had let out a small 'oh' as he glanced back down to the side with furrowed eyebrows, most likely trying to think of what to say. "I'm Izuku Midoriya for those who don't remember," he spoke with hesitation.

There was what sounded like a chair falling over and then a pair of hands slamming down on a desk. Midoriya had glanced up to see Shinso standing up and Bakugo as well, though he had his hands slammed down on his desk.

"And where were you?" Bakugo eyed the boy.

"What happened to your arms?" Shinso asked as well. He surprised his classmates when a look of alarm and worry had seemed to be plastered on his face, "You never told me anything about that!"

Bakugo turned back and forth between the two, "You've been texting him this whole time but never bothered to text me? What kind of bullshit is that?"

"I—"

"Midoriya! Nice to see you again! I apologize for my classmates' behavior! I'm Tenya Iida if you don't remember correctly." The blue haired boy had went up to the boy and most noticed just how small the boy was compared to Iida. He seemed to be around where Ashido would be compared to Iida so that was around five foot four or something. Even so, his small stature compared to the other guys in their class just made the girls want to squeeze the life out of him.

"Yeah...nice to see you guys again," he replied with a small smile.


	20. A New Friend + A Weird Situation

Midoriya was quite thankful that he was in normal classes for once.

Yes, he was part of Class 1-A, but his usual curriculum was easily suited for a Class 3-A student, just like it always had been. He wasn't used to having to learn things a normal kid his age would learn; he was usually a year or two ahead of what they were supposed to be learning. Which is how he ended up in Bakugo's grade level back in middle school.

Though now he was glad that he wouldn't have to answer all of the questions he and Shinso may have had. Or maybe even the questions that the others had; some of the class had seemed to recognize him somehow.

And as much as he would like to ask about their quirks and how they came up with their hero names— considering he's already seen them in action given they already started hero work— he didn't want to be overwhelmed by people questioning him.

Besides, he really didn't want to talk about the past two years if he didn't have to.

So, he was currently in a little spot behind the school, near a bush of flowers. He tried to steady his lunchbox in his lap as best he could given his banged up arms. After succeeding with that, he slid his book bag off his shoulders and pulled it to his side, sighing in content when his back finally rested against the concrete wall behind him. He really liked the smell of the flowers that had engulfed his senses wonderfully.

He spotted a particularly pretty flower and he was about to take out his supplies and make an attempt to sketch it out until his gaze fell to his lap again. He made a face of acknowledgment and carefully pulled off the top of the container his food was in. The smell of his mother's cooking wafted through the air; Midoriya was grateful that she made something that didn't have to be warm. Though, he didn't exactly like the fact that he would have to use his left arm to hold his chopsticks up.

His left arm already had a dull ache considering he wasn't really supposed to use it, but he couldn't exactly use his broken right arm, either. "Stupid villians..." he scoffed under his breath, getting angrier by the second as he thought about what had happened. His anger morphed into sadness the more he thought about his situation. He began to cry silently as he looked down at his lunch, his left hand shaking as small whimpers escaped his lips; he had to hold back his sobs or else someone might hear him.

A few minutes passed and he was able to minimize the noise he made. He looked down at his things and was going to use a napkin to wipe his face, only now realizing that he didn't have one. He was going to wipe it with his sleeve until he heard rustling.

He lifted his gaze upwards and three others had looked down at him. They were already really tall, Midoriya could tell, but they looked even bigger when they were looking down on him given the fact that he was sitting on the ground. The greenette cast his gaze downwards, cursing at himself internally about the tears he probably had on his face.

"I'll go let the others know we found him," the girl of the group had mentioned. Midoriya briefly remembered her name as Yaomomo...he believed that was true, anyways. It looked like the half white half red haired boy wanted to protest but a familiar blue haired male with glasses had ushered him over so the black haired girl could leave.

Iida, Midoriya recalled, had turned to face him. The greenette only noted that he did so because the direction in which his feet were pointed had changed. It seems like none of them knew what to say but Iida hesitantly spoke, "Bakugo noticed you weren't in the lunch room. Shinso as well. And, knowing that as third years that we are meant to watch over you —given the situation we are in— we thought that we would find you. It's not a good choice to be alone since you would be at a disadvantage if villains were to be here."

Midoriya nodded as he looked down and cleared his throat as best as he could. Though, it didn't help much since a choked 'Sorry' still escaped his lips when he tried to speak. Iida walked forwards and crouched down to the ground in front of Midoriya at that moment. Where the half and half teen went? Well he wouldn't know.

Midoriya's emerald green eyes landed on a napkin that was offered to him by Iida. Without looking up, he thanked the blue haired boy and grabbed the tissue with his left hand. Midoriya placed his glasses down and, as best as he could, he wiped away the tears; he wiped some of the makeup concealing his freckles accidentally. He stared at the napkin wide-eyed and placed it to the side of him before turning to his book bag, facing away from Iida.

"What are you..." Iida began. He trailed off and Midoriya picked the conversation back up.

"Concealer. It smudged off," he mumbled, his voice almost inaudible but it was still heard.

"Why would you need that?" A different voice questioned. Midoriya was about to look up but he kept his head down as he put the concealer on his fingers. Midoriya didn't answer and instead rushed to put the makeup on. He didn't care how sloppy it looked now, he could fix it later. As long as it covered up his hideous freckles then he would be fine.

Once he felt his job was satisfactory, he placed his glasses back on his face and turned to hide the concealer back in his bag. He wiped the excess makeup onto his napkin and finally looked up to meet the heterochromatic eyed boy that was talking to him before.

"To answer your question, makeup is usually used to help people feel prettier but in my case, it's to conceal what I don't want the world to see. I don't feel comfortable talking about it..." he added at the end.

The half and half boy seemed dissatisfied with the answer but accepted it anyways. "I'm Shoto Todoroki if you don't recall," he said with what sounded like a bored tone. There was a pause before said half and half teen had walked over and took a seat against the wall near Midoriya. Iida, with slight protest in his mind about sitting on the ground, did the same but on the greenette's other side.

"Um you can go eat in the lunch room. I can just go eat in a classroom instead so you guys don't have to watch over me or whatever," Midoriya stated while poking his food with his chopsticks.

Todoroki shrugged and went to stand up but Iida spoke up, "Well you could join us for lunch if you'd like." The greenette didn't seem to react to that so, instead, Todoroki sighed and planted himself back down on the ground.

"Iida I'm going to get my lunch and then come back here. I'll stay with him, I guess," the dual haired teen spoke, watching to receive an answer from Iida before going up to head to the lunch room.

"No no you don't have to! I can just go to the classroom! I learned my lesson, I'll just go there for lunch for now on," Midoriya spoke while moving his left arm. He made an attempt to move his right arm as well but he stifled a grunt as he did so. Todoroki made a displeased noise and turned around to renter the school.

Iida gently pushed him back down to the ground, "It's okay. Todoroki...can be rather stubborn when he wants to be. Or rather, sometimes he's a bit more irritable when tired. I don't think you would be bothering him by doing this. From what I know, he prefers quiet areas." Midoriya relaxed a little and nodded. There was a beat of silence, "May I ask if you're alright?"

Midoriya looked up for a split second and provided a small smile, "Oh yeah. Recovery Girl said she would probably be able to fix my arms up after school. I'll probably still have to have my right arm wrapped but nothing too bad."

Iida readjusted his position and looked away for a split second. "I meant that question as in how are you," he paused, "We could be friends if you'd like. Even if you don't want to be, I'll still be there if you need anyone to talk to." Iida offered a slight smile and looked over to see the greenette sniffling again. He jumped up a little in shock and went to reassure the curly haired teen until he heard small chuckles escaping the boy.

"I'm sorry, it's just I wasn't expecting anything like this. I wanna be friends," he carefully wiped his tears, avoiding wiping off the makeup again as he did so. "I would like that," he laughed with his head down.

Midoriya had fun talking to Iida, which is why he was kind of sad that he left. Albiet he was also glad he left so he would be saved from the embarrassment of spewing a bunch of stuff about him. The greenette actually knew a ton about Class 3-A; he took notes on the up and rising heroes ever since their debut, around the same age he was now. He knew about their quirks and hero life, but it was nice to hear about how they actually act as a normal person, when they aren't doing anything just because it is 'what a hero would do'. It was nice to see that the kindness was not just some act and that it was genuine.

Though, Todoroki was a different story.

After Iida had left, the dual haired teen had sat a good distance away from Midoriya and it was evident that the older male didn't want much to do with the younger one. _Then Iida was probably right about the quiet environment explanation_ , Midoriya thought.

They ate in relative silence, which, Todoroki didn't seem to mind, but Midoriya felt like he had to say something with the awkward atmosphere around them. Though, he couldn't come up with anything to say so he looked down and had a rather rough time with his chopsticks. If Todoroki noticed, then he didn't pay attention to it as they sat on the ground.

Once Midoriya was done, he set his empty container to the side of him and debated on using his time to write notes or draw. He hesitantly eyed the flower on the opposite side of Todoroki and he had an internal debate before packing up his things. The dual haired teen—not done with his...cold soba...?— had looked up and gave Midoriya a pointed look, "You aren't going anywhere without someone else."

Emerald eyes flickered over to meet heterochromatic eyes until they refocused on the flower from earlier. Midoriya faced his back to Todoroki and sat in front of the flower with a small thud. When he sat himself on the ground, he noticed that Todoroki moved a little. He looked back over and the dual haired boy explained himself, "Just making sure you don't hurt yourself again."

 _Again?_ Midoriya appeared puzzled before realizing it was probably because of his broken arm. Did the rest of class 3-A not know what happened? That Dabi was the one to break his arm when Bakugo tried to intervene back at the sports festival? The greenette didn't reply and just turned back to the flower, sighing in frustration when he remembered he only had his left hand available. He would probably have to come back to this spot when he had his arm healed.

He looked at the flower and decided that he could probably be able to take a picture of it instead. Sure, the photo would probably mess up the saturation but the greenette knew he could easily fix that with an editing program. Just as he pulled out his phone, he heard an incoherent mumble before something tugged at his shirt.

The greenette turned back to see Todoroki on the ground. He looked around at once, but he was rather confused when he didn't spot a villain or anything of that sort. He turned back to the dual haired teen hesitantly and grabbed his wrist to check for a pulse. Thankfully there was one there. Though, looking closer at his face, Midoriya noticed the dark circles under the taller boy's eyes.

Thinking back to the conversation with Iida, the blue haired teen had briefly brushed over his concern about Todoroki's lack of sleep so Midoriya concluded that he simply just fell asleep. He mentally thanked whatever deity made it so he didn't have to rush this guy to Recovery Girl. But at the same time he had to figure out what to do about Todoroki. Well, he knew where his own dorm was but the Class 3-A dorms were a mystery to him.

He was supposed to be moving into their dorms later this week so would that mean that his current room isn't his own anymore? He paused and thought about it before coming to the conclusion that yes, it would still be his dorm room.

Midoriya looked at the flower before shoving his phone in his bag, putting the flower on hold until he brings Todoroki someplace else. He noted the fact that no one was around and sighed.

Hopefully he could make it to the dorms without anyone catching him using his quirk.


	21. Recipe for Disaster

"Hey!"

He groaned when he heard a voice nearby. He felt a dull ache in both of his arms and apparently he was lying faced down. He paused, hearing the same voice trying to get someone's attention as he slowly started to wake up. He blinked as his eyes were starting to refocus, only to see a hand hitting the surface in front of him. "Mom 'm still tired..." he mumbled as he attempted to roll over and reach for any blankets near him.

He hissed in pain, immediately rolling to his back so he would be facing the ceiling. Odd... it wasn't the ceiling of his bedroom...was it his dorm room? But he hadn't remembered...

He almost jumped up when Todoroki appeared in his vision, hovering over him. There was a sigh that sounded like one of...relief..? from Todoroki as the dual haired male sat back on his knees. Emerald eyes scanned the floor before landing on the familiar pair of glasses; the greenette placed them on his face before looking back to Todoroki. Midoriya went to ask him what was wrong but the older one went to speak up first, "This is your room, right?"

Midoriya nodded as he sat up, wincing at the pain in his arms. He brushed it off, trying to collect his thoughts properly as he faced _the_ Hero Frostflare. "Y-yeah! You fell asleep so I had to take you somewhere...what time is it?"

"You took me here? By yourself?" He asked instead.

"Yeah! Um-you- you looked tired even before you fell asleep so I didn't wanna wake you. I- agh!" He pulled his left arm off the floor and leaned forwards, cradling it in front of him. He noticed the half and half haired male make an attempt to help but the greenette quickly stopped him, "No no it's fine. I shouldn't have used my quirk while I was injured."

There was a pause before the other had began to speak, "Well I can ice it if you need that. I didn't intend to fall asleep like that."

Midoriya shook his head and hauled himself up, shuffling over to his drawer shortly afterwards. Todoroki watched but stood up as well, making sure that the younger was okay to stand up by himself; the green haired boy seemed to stagger, he noticed, maybe his quirk was very draining or he used too much of it like how Kaminari short circuits when he overuses his quirk.

The dual haired teen looked over when the first year had pulled open a drawer. He caught a glimpse of what looked like a pill bottle in the drawer. What it was for? Well, he didn't really catch what it was when the drawer had shut again. Heterochromatic eyes gazed up, taking note of the gauze along with the little first aid kit the other seemed to have in his left arm. Now that he thought about it, this kid was pretty short compared to him. Sure, Todoroki was a third year with the height of six feet, three inches, but the greenette was _tiny_ , maybe five feet, four or five inches?

And for some reason that made him want to squeeze him.

He shook those thoughts away. No, this was just an irresponsible first year, one who was way too happy-go-lucky and emotional for Todoroki's preference. He honestly had no clue as to why Iida had offered for the two to be friends. Though, Todoroki supposed it was probably because this Midoriya kid looked to have a big heart. The only problem was his actual abilities as a hero. If his quirk was _that_ draining after such a short trip, then there was no way that he could become a hero.

It was just like he said two years ago if his memory served him right. The greenette couldn't be a hero if all he was is heroic. Someone could have the attitude and mindset of a hero, yet they could lack in the skill and strength section. Unfortunately it seems like only the latter count, as his own father is an example of one that has the strength and skill but certainly not the mindset.

"Call me if you need anything. There's no use to going back to school since they most likely started training. Though, you would probably be training with your class and there would be no way of explaining the situation to your teacher," Todoroki turned towards the door and pulled out his phone, about to call Aizawa to explain the situation before he realized that he couldn't just leave Midoriya here; these were the first year dorms and Todoroki's dorm was on the other side of the campus. "Change of plans. You were assigned your other dorm room, correct?"

Midoriya looked up from rebandaging his arm, "Uh- no. I wasn't notified that I would have to move my stuff today. Well- I was going to start packing after I got my arm fixed up- Oh! It's almost the end of the day you said, right? _So I can just walk over- But I was gonna take a nap and the campus is huge meaning it would take a while I'm not sure if I would make it given how much that trip using my quirk drained me. Is my quirk acting up again? Is there something-"_

His muttering was put on pause when there was a dip in his bed, in front of where his legs were spread out. His emerald eyes trailed up to see broad shoulders and a muscular back. "Just hop on my back then," Todoroki stated easily.

"Ah- Are you sure? I can just-"

"You carried me when I was tired so now I can return the favor," he cut in. There was silence and Todoroki almost turned around to speak to the boy once more before he felt a weird material slip onto his shoulders and something press on his back from behind him. He reached and grabbed the greenette's legs and held them before standing up.

"Woah Todoroki is so tall..." he heard something mutter near his ear before a chin rested on one of his shoulders. Fluffy green hair tickled the side of his neck and his jawline.

 _His hair is soft..._ he silently noted before walking to the door. The trip wasn't all that bad, but it was rather quiet, Todoroki noticed. Maybe a little too quiet with Midoriya. "Hey we're almost-"

"No...'lready have..that All m'ght fgure momm..." Todoroki had heard the greenette mumble faintly.

 _Guess he's sleeping then_ , he thought before entering the school, going down the hallways to find Recovery Girl's office. At least he sent Aizawa a text of both of their whereabouts. Though it seems like he had answer some of the texts about both his and Midoriya's location since his classmates seemed to be worried and curious. Oddly he had gotten most of the texts from two unknown numbers.

When he had finally woken Midoriya up to be set down in Recovery Girl's office for his check up, the dual haired teen had walked out to look at the messages better this time. Oh... apparently one of the numbers was claiming to be Bakugo and the other was Shinso. They were both asking about Midoriya in their own ways.

Todoroki wondered why they had been so nice to Midoriya, nicer than they had been to anyone else based on how they interact with other classmates. The greenette was really a mystery to Todoroki. He was contemplating whether who he should reply to. Surely one of them would be more than willing to help Midoriya in heading back to the first year dorms to pack up. Well, maybe not Bakugo. Plus, he didn't really want to deal with the ash blond when or if he had arrived so he opted to tell Shinso that he was waiting outside of Recovery Girl's office to get the greenette's arms fixed up.

Now that he saw the time, hero classes should be over by now.

Which, he found out he was correct about shortly after when he noticed figures coming from down the hallway. And just his luck, Bakugo was with Shinso. But at least Kirishima was with them; the redhead was often good with calming the ash blond down, even if it was just a notch.

It was funny how much taller Kirishima was then Bakugo compared to their first year. Before they had been only a couple centimeters apart but now Kirishima was around six foot five inches while Bakugo was around six feet, one or two inches.

Todoroki wanted to leave as soon as he heard Bakugo but first he had to explain what had happened, which he could barely do when all Bakugo seemed to do was yell and nag. The dual haired teen knew that the ash blond was quite protective over Midoriya. Todoroki wondered why but he chose not to ask, as he didn't want his conversation with Bakugo longer than it had to be.

Before their conversation was close to ending, the door had slid open, "Thank you! I'll try to be more careful." The greenette had smiled and waved to the lady before turning around. He seemed to be startled when he noticed the four pairs of eyes on him.

He seemed fine with Todoroki, Shinso noticed, but Midoriya seemed to be glancing back to Kirishima with weary eyes. That is, until the redhead smiled and waved a little awkwardly. The boy bounded forwards and his eyes lit up, a little too excited when he tripped and almost fell into the taller teen.

"Ah- um- sorry. I just- You're Red Riot right? I remember you let me take notes on you and Chargebolt two years ago at that cafe! Woah you really improved your quirks that's so cool! Also I uh- I know that there are mixed reviews but your teeth are really cool! I think it sets you apart from everyone else, it makes you special! And it's the good kind of special-"

"He can't process what you're saying when you spew out a million miles a minute, nerd," Bakugo stopped his rant when he ruffled the bush of green curls.

Green eyes didn't fail to see the dual haired male walking down the corridor, "Oh- Thank you Todoroki!" There was a side glance in acknowledgement before the half and half haired teen continued his trip down the hallway.

"I believe I heard the name Chargebolt?" Midoriya glanced over and almost fell over in surprise, not even realizing Kirishima was still holding him up from when he almost fell over earlier. He noticed the familiar blond hair that peaked around the corner, along with the carefree nature Midoriya was used to when it came to the hero. "Oh and it's the green haired cutie too!"

Midoriya flushed as a bright red began to stain his cheeks, "Uwah- No- I'm not-"

The blond had walked up to the curly haired boy and cupped his cheeks, squishing them in the process, "You're really gonna tell me-"

Bakugo and Midoriya moved to pull him away, with the greenette being worried about his freckles and with the ash blond still remembering how uneasy the boy felt about them. Bakugo had tugged the back of the greenette's uniform and pulled him towards him, "Oi fuck off, Dunce Face. Are you really gonna flirt with anyone you find attractive?"

The shorter blond smirked, "Well most of our class is attractive and you don't see me flirting with them. I'm just wondering if I have a shot with the beauty right next to you."

Shinso cut in and guided Midoriya over to the enterance, with a hand on his back to show him the way, "Come on, I can help you move into your new dorm room,"

"Ah- Shinso you really don't-"

"Oh! We'll help!" Kaminari and Kirishima exclaimed in unison.

"These fuckers don't know what they're doing so I'm coming with too."

Four tall, and not to mention muscular guys coming to help with Midoriya's All Might themed room? Not to mention two of which are huge and bulky, and Bakugo and Shinso probably have so many questions for the greenette.... yeah this is going to be a nightmare. Quite possibly for both Midoriya and his All Might merch.


End file.
